Oktoberfest or Monsterfest
by dooder's nin
Summary: A fun atmosphere and copious amounts of beer can lead to all sorts of things at Germany's famous festival. When Gilbert's stash of diaries becomes reading material for a certain drunk guest, things become less of a party as they become lost in a creepy and nightmarish adventure, being haunted and chased on their journey to find the path out of a mysterious forest and to return home
1. Chapter 1

There was the usual anticipation that came with one of the very formal-looking invites to a very informal gathering; Oktoberfest. Ludwig and Gilbert were very meticulous, or at least Ludwig was, in making sure to extend invitations to all those who had either previously attended or had expressed interest in joining in their famous beer-related festivities. Of course, there were always those who just made their way over whenever, but this was one of the rare times when such a lack of discipline didn't actually seem to bother the blond German. Of course, this also meant that Gilbert was more rambunctious than usual without his younger brother feeling the need to try and curb his more extreme ideas, often leading to slightly fuzzy memories the next day along with interesting photos if Elizabeta or Kiku happened to attend that year.

The party was already in full swing, Ludwig relaxing in his home as he enjoyed the dances that were being performed, the albino Germanic brother attempting to drunkenly participate. He could see his friend Feliciano over with his brother, Lovino looking less than enthused as he'd obviously been dragged here by the eternally enthusiastic northern Italian. The fact that there was a Spaniard hanging on the back of his shoulders as he rambled on about something to do with the dances he'd seen performed, seemed to be the only thing keeping the southern Italian from just storming out and getting lost.

As for those who seemed to always be getting lost, Alfred seemed just as jovial as ever as he dragged Matthew and Arthur out to join Gilbert, the Canadian easily slipping back towards their table to avoid the embarrassing spectacle that was his brothers when both were intoxicated. Alfred seemed to be more sober than Arthur, the American more or less acting like puppeteer for the drunk British man while Arthur cursed the American's every action as he tried to follow Matthew back to their table. Eventually, Alfred gave up trying to get his older brother to stop cussing and just dance, releasing him to go spend time with Gilbert. This meant that as soon as Alfred let go, Arthur had landed on the ground with a dazed look on his face before slowly and laughably getting to his feet with only a few stumbles.

"Is fun time, da?" Ivan said beside him, startling Ludwig from watching the comical goings-on of his fellow personifications. The Russian had always been one of those who managed to just wander in whenever it suited his fancy rather than give any sort of commitment to attending.

"Hmm? Oh, ja. You having a good time too?" Ludwig said, looking briefly over to the Russian man before returning his attention on the food he'd been snacking on between pints. "I hope you have managed to not to do anything like last year. I mean no disrespect, but I would prefer you not try to wrestle with America again." Ludwig said, Ivan sighing as though recalling a memory of which he was particularly fond.

"Oh, but America looked even more ridiculous with sauerkraut hanging from his hair. And you were not using that barrel anyway." Ivan said with a smile as he seated himself next to Ludwig, the German man internally sighing at not escaping having to entertain this guest.

"Ja, but you covered Roderich with some of it too when you and Alfred started tossing whole barrels at one another. What were you two doing, exactly?" Ludwig said, crumpling up the napkin that had the leftover pretzel crumbs in it that he'd hastily finished.

"Amerika likes to play catch. Matvey has told me all about it. He seemed to want to play and I do enjoy playing too. I make more friends that way." Ivan said with a head tilt and small chuckle. "We should do something like that more often, da?" He said, blinking innocently at Ludwig.

"Perhaps not with several pounds worth of sauerkraut." Ludwig said with a small blush on his face as he recalled just how angry Roderich had been when he'd been part of the collateral damage caused by Alfred getting drunk enough to challenge Russia to arm wrestling, which turned into a full-body wrestling match and apparently ended with a game of 'dodge-the-barrel'.

"Da. Do you have any suggestions?" Ivan said merrily, looking over to where Alfred had lifted up Gilbert over his shoulder and was spinning around on the dance floor, the albino actually pleading to stop as his face began to take on actual color – green.

"Just enjoy the fest Ivan." Ludwig said, Ivan nodding and taking a drink of the beer he held and making a face at the taste in clear preference for a different sort of alcoholic beverage. Ludwig stood and tossed out his trash, heading over to where Matthew was sitting with Francis now that Arthur had apparently drunkenly wandered off on his own.

"Ah, Ludwig. The party is everything to be expected of you and Gilbert." Francis said with a smirk, the German man not sure if that was to be taken as a compliment or an insult. "The ladies are as…lovely as usual and everyone seems to be having a good time. Even Ivan." Francis continued, the pastry Matthew had obviously gotten for him sitting untouched beside an equally untouched beverage. He could hear the hesitance in the other's voice, recalling Feliciano's own uncertainty in how to regard the women of his lands. But Ludwig only rolled his eyes, an action not normally attributed to him unless it was the result of dealing with Feliciano, Gilbert or when he'd had something to drink.

"Danke Francis. You know, you don't have to come every year if you don't have a good time." Ludwig said, crossing his arms over his chest. He hadn't had enough to drink to let his anger go unchecked by him, but Francis usually made a point of pointing out the differences between his and Ludwig's sense of good food and drink.

"Non, I am enjoying myself. Just ask Mathieu." Francis said, quickly plastering on a smile in case Ludwig had reached the point of becoming an angry drunk again. The Frenchman had experienced that a few times and wasn't eager to repeat that, demonstrating his 'enjoyment' by biting into the pastry that had otherwise been deemed inedible. Ludwig arched a brow at that but said nothing, looking around for wherever it seemed Gilbert had disappeared. But before he could excuse himself, Alfred came over to his brother's table, slapping Ludwig on the back playfully and sounding nearly out of breath from all the dancing.

"Hey dude. Great fest this year. Could be bigger though." He said with a smile, shaking the German man playfully before heading back over to his twin. Ludwig didn't seem to mind, smirking when Alfred stumbled over Francis' foot and making the Frenchman wince before plopping down next to Matthew and tugging on his brother's sleeve to get him to dance with him.

"Alfred, where is Gilbert?" Ludwig asked as he scanned the crowd for the distinctive hair of his older brother. "Oh, and stay away from Ivan." He said with a pointed look, Alfred returning it with a confused look of his own. "No food fights this year. I had to listen to Roderich express his anger through Chopin for three days after last year."

Alfred made an 'oh' face as he finally caught up to what he was being scolded for this time. "Gotcha dude. That why he's sitting way over there this year? Man, why does he bother to show up if he's not gonna live a little? Ha ha…but Gilbert needed to use a bathroom or something." Alfred said with a shrug, Matthew wincing in understanding. "I thought he could hold his own better than that. You should'a seen somma the stuff he did when he was training me how to fight…." Alfred said with a far off look, Francis shaking his head as he too recalled Gilbert's even more rowdy self when he was given a chance to embrace the open spaces of Alfred's lands during the American's revolution.

"Oui. Gilbert's tolerance almost rivals Ivan's, but mon cher, not even _he_ can hold it together when spun upside down as harshly as you were doing to him." Francis said with a scoff, Alfred looking a little sheepish at that.

"Oops. But hey, it can't be worse than Iggy. Where'd he go Matt?" Alfred said, returning his attention on getting his brother involved with him once more. "C'mon Mattie, you see it _all_ dude…." He said, trailing off into drunken laughter as he leaned on the Canadian.

"He probably headed off into the castle." Matthew said, pushing his brother away and pointing over to where the nearby old castle stood. "I think it was one of Gilbert's homes when he was younger." He said, taking a swig of his own beer.

"Ja. Gilbert has several homes here and there. He wanted to invite you all to this specific Oktoberfest because it's always held on what used to be his 'grounds'." Ludwig said with a shrug as the other three took another look at the castle. "I guess he was feeling nostalgic, although knowing him, he'd call that sentiment feeling awesome." The German continued with a bit of a smirk on his face.

"Who's trying to be awesome? Because they cannot out-awesome me!" Gilbert shouted out as he rejoined the party, startling Alfred from where the albino man had suddenly materialized beside the American. "And you…", he said as he tried to glare at Alfred, "…no more playing 'spin-the-Gilbert'. I need to get more beer now." The older man said, walking off to go replace what he had apparently just lost

"Hey, wait a sec'. Where are the hamburgers dude?" Alfred called out to Gilbert, the albino turning and shooting Alfred an unamused look.

"There's probably a literal ton of food here and that's all you'll eat?" Gilbert asked, Alfred only blinking in confusion at anyone asking him such a question. Matthew just shook his head with a small smile on his face at his twin's predictable nature, the Prussian man motioning for the American to follow after him as he backtracked to head toward the castle. "Come with me. I'll see if I can dump you off on Arthur. He's had a little too much and is, ah…taking a break from the awesomeness that is one of my awesome fests." Gilbert said, Alfred perking up at the idea of finding both his favorite food and the chance to be entertained by a drunk Arthur. Alfred shot up out of his seat, once again knocking into Francis, oblivious to why the older man was so displeased as he eagerly followed after the older German brother.

"Oh! Tell Arthur that Peter's supposed to call Berwald soon." Matthew called over to his retreating twin, Alfred waving halfheartedly in a sign that he'd heard the need to remind the British man about his babysitting duties. The Swedish man had insisted that there be some times that Arthur looked after the micronation when he and Tino were otherwise occupied with their own business. Of course, neither of them would have thought that Arthur would attend Oktoberfest that year anyway, not factoring in the persistence of Alfred in getting him and the smaller boy over to Germany's lands before Arthur had even put up a decent argument.

"Got it!" Alfred called out, Matthew sighing as he seemed to be the default responsible one. He could see Peter off with a group of young boys that were doing activities that didn't actually involve beer, but the Canadian couldn't help but worry. He'd also enjoyed a few rounds and wasn't sure if he'd be the best person to be the responsible one, the others apparently forgetting his own fondness for the beverage.

"Francis…." Matthew said hesitatingly, but it seemed the Frenchman completely understood. With a sigh and one more quick glance over the pastry to see if it was possibly worth finishing before deciding otherwise, Francis stood up to go check on Peter. Matthew smiled in relief at the other's actions, watching as Peter predictably imitated Arthur however subconsciously in his response to Francis. He chuckled as Francis merely patted the boy's head before heading over to talk with the Austrian personification he was fond of listening to, leaving Matthew to wonder how much longer he would have to enjoy his drink in relative peace.


	2. Chapter 2

Gilbert laughed as he watched Alfred take in the sight of his home – or at least what he managed to maintain on his own with his younger brother's help. He smirked as Alfred immediately headed over to where he'd set up a suit of armor that had belonged to a man he'd considered awesome enough to consider a friend.

"Whoa…you gotta lemme…" Alfred began, reaching for the sword to start messing around with it, only to have Gilbert place a hand on his arm.

"Nein. That's…I remember your swordsmanship." Gilbert said, checking over the armor to make sure it hadn't been jostled at all by the overly eager American. Alfred again looked confusedly to the other man as he watched Gilbert inspect the nonexistent damage in a way that looked more like Ludwig than the typical behavior exhibited by the older German brother.

"What? You taught me how to use muskets and rifles and bayonets…" Alfred said, arching a brow as he tried to follow what the other man was saying. Gilbert snickered as he finally returned his attention to the American, shaking his head at him.

"Precisely. You'll do more damage than even I'd approve of if you mess with that." Gilbert said, laughing again at the insulted look on Alfred's face.

"Hey! I know how to use a sword. Arthur taught me how to use it when I was still little." Alfred said, Gilbert hard-pressed to describe the look he was getting as anything other than a pout as Alfred argued in his defense. "I could totally look like a killer knight and all. Man, I thought you'd be cooler than Arthur. He doesn't want me touching his old rusty tin cans either." Alfred said with a huff, Gilbert unable to keep from snickering quietly. "Alright, alright. Let's find Arthur." Alfred said, pushing past the amused Prussian man to head further into the castle's living quarters to see if he could spot Arthur without the other's help, cupping his hands to his mouth and shouting out for his brother a few times.

"Don't do that! That's a very bad idea!" Gilbert said, placing a hand over the other's mouth as he regarded him with an unexpected look of caution. "There's a reason I haven't kept up other sections of the castle you know." He said, making a show of looking over both shoulders before leaning into the American's face. "You need to beware of the Weisse Frauen…don't make a sound. Don't even blink if you catch even a glimpse or it'll be all over for you." He said, Alfred's eyes widening as he took a moment to translate what the other said.

Alfred harshly pulled away the hand that was covering his mouth, already beginning to shake a little at the thought of confronting ghosts. "What?!" He cried out, Gilbert shushing him and making Alfred wince and look around fearfully. "What?" He repeated in a whisper. "Why didn't you say that before? We…we…we gotta go find Iggy before they do!" He said, Gilbert making placating motions with his hands to keep Alfred still.

"Of course. But just wait here. I need to check on something." Gilbert said, Alfred opening his mouth to protest only to be silenced by the sharp look the other's red eyes inflicted on him. "Don't touch anything." Gilbert said before disappearing around the corner. Alfred stood as still as he could, keeping his whimpers to a minimum.

"Gil…"He called out in a whisper, repeating himself when he got no response. It had grown awfully quiet and the silence was making Alfred nervous, the party noise outside only just barely drifting through the walls. He shifted over to be able to look out the window, scanning the crowd for his twin to possibly signal for help – _not that the hero would need it, but it's always a bonus to have your sidekick at the ready_ , Alfred thought to himself. He was straining to catch of glimpse of his occasionally invisible brother when hands suddenly grasped him from behind on the shoulders, making Alfred jump into the air with a shriek as he whipped around to warily and frightfully see whatever it was that had cornered him. But his terror soon turned to irritation when he saw Gilbert with his phone out, laughing at the American's reaction.

"Ah, mein gott Alfred….that was a totally unawesome girly shriek. I didn't know you could still hit that octave." He laughed, Alfred fumbling with his glasses in an effort to compose himself. "That was for making me lose my lunch earlier." He said, still laughing. "Payback is awesome, like me…" He trailed off, seeing Alfred take a swing toward him in an attempt to grab the camera away.

"Fine, fine….we're even. That wasn't cool dude. Not. Cool." Alfred said as Gilbert pocketed his phone. "I'm startin' to think leaving Iggy here to mess with your stuff might not be such a bad idea. You deal with him when he thinks he's back in World War II or something. He gets like that sometimes when he's drunk and I think you kinda like this castle, so have fun." Alfred said in an irritated tone. Gilbert thought over his words though and Alfred could see the other dreading having to deal with Arthur in that sort of mood. But before either of them could say anything else, a large bang echoed through the room, prompting Alfred to cling to Gilbert as he looked around in fright for the 'white women' ghosts the Prussian had warned him about in the castle.

"Ugh…get off…." Gilbert said after he regained his own composure, thankful that Alfred was both too scared and drunk to realize that he'd also shrieked in a similarly shrill manner as he'd returned the hold Alfred had on him. "That was probably Arthur doing exactly what you said. Come on. I think it came from this way." He said, Alfred timidly following behind him to where Gilbert was sure he'd heard the noise. The albino man gasped as he saw his hidden door wide open, rushing forward to find that Arthur had snooped around enough to find his treasure trove of diaries, casually flipping through one while others lay scattered on the floor.

"Oh, 'ello there." Arthur slurred to them, lazily waving to the two newcomers. "Interesting reading material you have here." He managed to get out, swaying a little and knocking into one of the bookcases again to knock more books onto the floor with an echoing bang.

"Get your hands off of those!" Gilbert yelled once he recovered his sense of speech, lunging toward Arthur and knocking both of them to the ground. "What the hell do you think you're doing?! Give me that!" Gilbert yelled as he and Arthur wrestled with one another while Alfred stood by and watched in both confusion and entertainment at the sight before him.

"No. I'm not done yet." Arthur argued, holding the book just out of Gilbert's grip. "This is good stuff…" He continued to slur out, Gilbert only becoming more frustrated with the other man as the two of them were both hampered by having had a few rounds of beer already. "Wha's this then, hmm? I didn't know you liked…" He started, Gilbert shouting over him to keep Alfred from hearing whatever embarrassing detail the British man was reading aloud and lunging again for Arthur. This time he was successful, the two hitting the ground with an 'oomphf' as Arthur finally dropped the book. This finally spurred Alfred into action, coming over to break up the likely fight about to start. He pulled Gilbert off of Arthur as best he could, Arthur crawling over to a corner to sit up against the wall.

"Easy Gil…he won't remember any of it tomorrow anyway." Alfred said in an attempt to placate the seething Prussian man, his eyes looking fiercer than usual. "You know he won't so just, c'mon…let's get him outta here. If we're lucky, we won't remember this clearly either. C'mon…" Alfred said, urging Gilbert to calm down.

"Hmm? I thought you were all….Teutonic Knights and all that…" Arthur said from where he sat, the two other men looking back over to find he'd grabbed one of the books off the floor and was reading that one now. Gilbert immediately made to resume where he'd left off, Alfred holding him back from actually inflicting any damage. "This is an old…I bet I could still do this one _easy_ …." Arthur said, halting Gilbert's attempts to free himself from Alfred's hold.

"Don't read it aloud!" Gilbert warned in a panicked tone as Arthur began to mumble something as he shakily got to his feet.

"Yeah, like there are ghosts in the castle too…" Alfred said sarcastically, Gilbert squirming with renewed energy to be released.

"There might be if he finishes! That was from Großvater Germania! You don't know what kind of stuff that old man…." Gilbert began, a flash of green and a coughing fit from Arthur signaling that Arthur had done something.

"Well, maybe not today…I think….rest up and get to it later…" Arthur said, yawning once before stumbling back into the bookcase to slide to the floor in a crumpled heap, snores heard shortly afterward from the unconscious man.

"Oh no…" Gilbert said, taking the opportunity of Alfred's surprise to wrench himself from the American to race forward and grab the book that Arthur had stumbled upon. "Oh…let's hope being drunk means nothing happened." He said, looking up from the page to face Alfred. "Even _I_ don't know for sure what Großvater was trying to do with this. It's too old for me to have any clue what the language means." He said, Alfred more concerned with gathering up the passed out British man on the floor.

"Then let's deal with it tomorrow. It was probably some silly flashlight thingamabob he picked up from the fest that gave off that freaky light." Alfred said as he carried Arthur out of the no-longer-secret library and back towards where he knew there to be couch to deposit the unconscious man. "And dude, I'm beat too. For once, Iggy's right and why don't we just sleep on it? 'Kay?" Alfred asked, taking a seat on the floor next to the couch, leaning up against it to get comfortable. "The others will come looking for us in here soon enough anyway…" He said, drifting off to sleep and leaving a concerned Gilbert to deal with his panic on his own.

Gilbert looked around his castle with a new attitude, deciding quickly to go gather the others. "West!" He cried out, desperately hoping the others would find their way over.


	3. Chapter 3

As it turned out, Gilbert's panicking seemed unfounded to the other personifications that he had dragged back into his castle to 'consult' – _because I am too awesome to actually be scared_ , Gilbert thought – on the matter didn't understand what the cause for concern might be either.

"You don't know what Germania was saying? Why would you write it down then? You probably messed it up too." Roderich said in an unamused tone. "And it's your fault anyway for letting Arthur find it." He said with an eye roll, going over to one of the chairs to relax in while Gilbert continued to panic.

"I'm awesomely pretending I didn't hear that." Gilbert said dismissively, turning to his younger brother. "Arthur managed to get some weird glowy thing going on from it. That's got to mean something, right bruder?" He asked, Ludwig looking unsteady on his feet from the fest almost as badly as Arthur looked, Feliciano doing his best to keep him steady. As a show of his altered state of mind, the German man shrugged disinterestedly, prompting Gilbert to give a groan of frustration.

"Let's just return to the fiesta, hmm? Take a deep breath and relax. Arthur's known to...well…do some strange things from time to time." Antonio suggested in a cheery manner, Lovino shaking his head at yet another circumstance of the Spaniard apparently being completely oblivious.

"May I see book? Maybe something crossed over to my lands at one point." Ivan said, taking the diary without actually waiting for a response. "No. Still no clue, but now I know where you got your…" He began, Gilbert hastily snatching the diary away to find Ivan had flipped to another page after quickly determining he'd been no closer to understanding the transliterated text the younger version of the Prussian man had attempted to transcribe.

"Mon ami, the fest is nearly over anyway. If you can spare it, we can all keep you company tonight to put your mind at ease." Francis said, placing a compassionate hand on his friend's shoulder. Gilbert sighed, rubbing a hand to his face and nodding for lack of any other plan thanks to the monstrous headache he could feel coming on. "Wonderful. We can all have roommates." The Frenchman said with a smile, looking over to Matthew. The Canadian quickly grabbed ahold of Peter, apologizing in French that he shouldn't leave the boy on his own. Francis merely smirked in return, Matthew breathing a sigh of relief at Francis not pressing the matter; he enjoyed the Frenchman's company, but it was difficult to become fond of his sleepwalking habits no matter how much he loved his older brother. Peter looked up in confusion to Matthew before simply shrugging, complaining about having wanted to get one more pretzel before heading to bed as he and Matthew climbed up the stairs to where Gilbert had indicated guestrooms. After some brief arguments about roommates, the others were quickly in bed as well, although Arthur and Alfred remained where they were.

Ludwig was the first to wake up, groaning and clutching his head from the headache that usually followed a successful Oktoberfest. He stumbled out of bed to take a look out of the window, only to wonder if he was still asleep as it seemed the castle had suddenly become surrounded by a forest like it had been long ago. He quickly woke up the others, wincing himself at the volume of his own voice, drawing the others' attention to their new surroundings.

"So…what? Did we go back in time, 'cuz that's pretty cool. Y'know, so long as we can get back and don't mess with, say, our grandparents or something like that." Alfred said as he looked around, Matthew just waiting for a 'Back to the Future' reference, relieved when it seemed the other was too curious about what was going on to go off like usual.

"Nein…we couldn't have. This forest…isn't right." Gilbert said as he looked over one of the trees. "West, this look familiar. Back up and take a look at all of it." Gilbert said, Ludwig doing as his brother suggested. For a few moments, neither brother said anything, Roderich also looking like he could vaguely see something different.

"Is this your Black Forest? When it was still really like Ancient Rome called it? 'Silva nigra'" Roderich said, Ludwig and Gilbert nodding in agreement of the Austrian man's conclusion that the two German men had reached without words.

"But, that isn't where we were when we went to sleep, right?" Peter asked, not really following what the others were talking about. He looked to Matthew to see if the other man might give him a response, but the Canadian looked just as confused.

"Nein. But this is definitely the Black Forest. Or something practically identical to it." Ludwig said with an analyzing look on his face. "I don't think we've moved, nor that the forest came to us. This is…different." He said, assessing his own awareness of his lands.

"So…why _that_ forest?" Feliciano asked, spinning around as he looked up at the tall trees. "Did Arthur rearrange where things are? That would be kind of hard to put things back in place. No wonder you've got such a headache Ludwig." Feliciano said, bouncing back over to his friend to pat him on the back in a comforting manner.

"I don't think that's what the potato-bastards meant Feli." Lovino grumbled, about to comment further when a groan from behind them had him jumping into Antonio's arms.

"Bloody hell, what on earth happened yesterday? God, my head…" Arthur groaned as he stumbled out from the doorway. "Where the hell are we? Alfred, where did you bring me this time? Or was it the frog?" He continued to whine, one hand to his head as he gazed around in confusion.

"Me? You're the one reading from someone else's stuff." Alfred defended himself, although Arthur didn't look ashamed at what the other admitted he'd done. If anything, the British man's headache seemed to be taking his sole attention, Arthur once more groaning and muttering something about ridiculous German beer.

"At least it's not too sunny for you, eh." Matthew said as he let Arthur lean on him to steady himself. Peter giggled at the sight his older brother made while dealing with the effects of being hungover.

"Oui. If anything, it is very…" Francis was saying, scanning the area. "Well, dark and gloomy. I don't even hear any birds. And where is that fog coming from?" He asked, noticing the fact that it seemed like a fog had suddenly formed up from the ground around them.

"I don't know and I don't care. Let's get back inside." Roderich said, grabbing Gilbert's sleeve and turning to drag them both back inside. The albino man predictably fussed to be released before gasping and pulling Roderich closer to him. "Ah! What the hell are you doing? Let go of me." He said with a blush, trying to get Gilbert to release him.

"Shhh! Look up there." Gilbert said, pointing up to one of the upper floor windows. "Weisse Frauen" He whispered, pulling Roderich off toward the cover of the trees, Ludwig scrunching up his face in confusion and looking up to where his brother pointed.

"Gilbert, there's nothing there. What are you talking about?" Ludwig said, a sudden gust of wind chilling the others. Gilbert let go of Roderich and grabbed ahold of the back of his younger brother's shirt to pull him closer to his hiding spot, not that he would ever admit it was a hiding spot.

"Oh no. I'm not fallin' for that again." Alfred said with a hint of irritation, striding forward purposefully. "Not the time Gilbert. I mean, I'm all for a good laugh, but….." He began, looking over his shoulder to where the others had cautiously backed up just in case Gilbert was onto something, considering their unexplainable change of scenery. Except there was a sudden silence, not even the rustling of the leaves on the trees as the chilly wind moved over them, causing Alfred to pause long enough to take a look around the area. He was just in time to see a white blur come towards him at an alarming rate, feeling himself getting lifted off the ground and tossed a few feet away from where he'd been standing, the white, feminine-looking figure quickly returning back inside the castle with the heavy wooden door slamming shut behind her.

"Alfred!" Matthew cried out, racing to where his brother lay on the ground, obviously trying to get his bearings. Kneeling beside him, the Canadian helped the American sit up, Alfred blinking a few times to try and clear his head.

"Ugh…what the hell just happened?" Alfred asked, clinging to his brother as he got back to his feet. "That thing….was that a, a g-ghost? Holy…..what….Ahhh! I hate freakin' ghost!" Alfred stuttered out, his grip on his twin getting tighter as he caught up with what had just occurred. The American's eyes widened dramatically as he shook, looking to Matthew for anything at this point.

"I told you to _be quiet_. Keep out of their line of sight." Gilbert said, motioning for the North Americans to get back into the cover of the trees where the others were standing. "They're not supposed to be malevolent unless they feel like you've threatened their kin or home." He said, looking back up warily to the window he'd first glimpsed the specter.

"What? Then why would the Dames Blanche be frightening you?" Francis asked, looking over to where Gilbert stood with Roderich and Ludwig. "If anything, you'd fit right in. Perhaps you should use that camouflage to get back inside and find us a way home. Your _actual_ home." He said, his own fear making him harsher in his criticism. Gilbert in turn glared at his friend, but Ludwig's hand on his arm stopped him from doing anything that might possibly provoke another attack.

"Everyone just calm down. Panicking will get us nowhere. America." Ludwig barked out, his harsh tone getting Alfred's attention from where he and Matthew had rejoined Peter and Arthur. "First off, are you alright?" Ludwig asked, Alfred taking a moment to run his hands over himself to make sure he hadn't been hurt. He gave a short nod and a thumbs up to indicate he was alright, obviously not trusting his voice to crack and give away his fear.

"Good. Secondly, where is Russia?" Ludwig said, the others startled to realize that their friend was not among their group. "I thought he was with us when we all came out, but then, I missed the fact that Britain remained on the couch for as long as he did. Has anyone seen where he might have gone?" He asked, the others shaking their heads as they thought over the morning's events.

"Oh! I know!" Peter said, holding up a hand and bouncing on his feet to get the others to pay attention to him. "I saw him head into the woods too. I was going to see if I could get closer to him after Matthew went to get Alfred, but he seemed to have heard something. I think he went that way." Peter said, pointing in the direction he'd seen Ivan disappear.

"Are you sure? Did you hear anything?" Ludwig asked, receiving a look from the micronation that had clearly been passed along to him from Arthur, his own largish eyebrows furrowing as he glared at the blonde German. Gilbert laughed at the look directed at his younger brother from the child personification before remembering to keep quiet. Ludwig cleared his throat and looked away to face the others. "Right. Then we will head in that direction. Split into two groups so we can…"

"Are you crazy? Have you not seen any scary movies?" Alfred interrupted loudly, Arthur shushing him not only for the sake of keeping the ghosts on the castle grounds from finding them but also for the headache he still was nursing. "That's the first step towards getting whacked dude." Alfred said a little quieter, looking terrified.

"We'll break into two groups. One follows in that direction, the others will wait here and see if there is any indication of how to correct this situation." Ludwig said, Alfred rolling his eyes and throwing his hands up in the air with a complaint of no one listening to him even though he was the hero.

"Fine. But I'm tellin' ya. Somethin' else is gonna end up happening. You're just playin' right along with things." Alfred said, giving a heavy sigh before getting in control of himself again. "Alright. I'll head the group to go find Ivan. Gilbert or Ludwig, one of you should come with us, you're more familiar with…whatever forest this is supposed to be. The other should stay here to act as the go-to guy in case any other of your creepy stuff starts poppin' up." Alfred said, Ludwig nodding and walking over to Alfred. The German man fumbled around in his pockets for a moment before producing a pocket knife. "Dude, I doubt that's gonna help with fighting ghosts." Alfred said with a short laugh, but Ludwig ignored that and instead made a notch on one of the trees.

"Oh, good idea Ludwig. Or should we call you Hansel?" Arthur asked with a bit of amusement. "It's a good thing you're not planning on using breadcrumbs if you're taking along Alfred." He said, Alfred crossing his arms over his chest as he shot a look to Arthur.

"Ve~ I don't want to stay here with the creepy ghost ladies. But I don't want to get lost in the woods. Fratello, stay close to me." Feliciano whined with a whimper, clinging to his older brother's arm. Romano grumbled, trying to pry the vice-like grip on his arm off of him.

"Fine. I'll stay here with Roddy." Gilbert said, the Austrian man not complaining for once with the other's idea. "Antonio, you staying here with the Italys?" He asked, looking over to where the Spaniard stood.

"I'm not going after the crazy vodka-drinking bastard with an obvious death wish." Lovino grumbled, Antonio looking over to Gilbert with a shrug.

"I suppose I am." Antonio replied, but Feliciano looked torn over whether or not to stay with his older brother or to go with his best friend, not liking either option.

"Al, I don't think Arthur's up for wandering the forest with you. He should stay with Peter here, don't you think?" Matthew said timidly, giving a small smile in response to the predictable glare the British accented personifications sent his way at his comment.

"Yeah. I guess so. Stay here old man." Alfred said with a pat on Arthur's back, the older man wincing as the movement reminded him of his hangover. "You comin' with me Mattie? Francis?" He asked as he looked to the other two who had yet to voice their intentions. Matthew gave a nod before looking over to see Francis' response, the Frenchman shaking his head but nodding as well.

"Unlike some other Europeans, I am quite capable of holding my own at times like these." Francis said with a smug look as he walked past Arthur, flipping his hair over his shoulder as he walked. Arthur's face predictably flushed with irritation at the other man, looking ready to lunge forward if not for the blonde German man's call for everyone to follow his lead. Alfred complained that he should be saying that line, Ludwig only halfheartedly responding with how his knowledge of the area made him a more suitable guide. Arthur rolled his eyes, internally thankful that Matthew had spoken up so that he wouldn't have to deal with the unintentionally loud and talkative man that was Alfred. As the group slowly disappeared into the forest, Feliciano bounced on his feet as he looked back and forth between the two groups. Another sudden chilly gust of wind as a white shape drifted in front of the castle door made up his mind for him.

"Wah! Germany! Germany, wait for me!" Feliciano wailed, nearly tripping over Peter's legs as the boy made himself comfortable on a rock. The northern Italian scrambled after the retreating forms of the others, Lovino calling out in clear concern before attempting to mask it with the usual 'fine, you idiota; see if I care'.

"I think we might want to back up a little more." Antonio said as he pulled Lovino back from where he'd been shouting after his equally panicky and incredibly fast younger brother. His suggestion was well founded as it seemed like there were more than just the one white shape that had attacked Alfred, prompting the others to head off deeper into the woods themselves, putting as much distance as they dared between them and the castle as they waited.

There was silence for a while among the group, save for Gilbert and Arthur 'quietly' arguing over how to possibly go about getting back to normal. Peter had quickly grown bored as he played with some sticks he'd tied together with strands of grass, doing his best to pretend they were suitable toys and became aware of just how much he was missing Berwald and Tino. His stick man had fallen apart again for the third time when he heard rustling coming from over to his right. Curious, the little boy got up to investigate, wondering what sort of animal he might run into.

"And I'm telling you that there's a reason it was _this_ forest. Didn't the Grimm brothers' tales supposedly take place there, here, wherever _this_ is? It's all magic here." Arthur said to Gilbert, the albino man running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Peter shook his head at his older brother's lecturing tone, the rustling heard again and prompting him to resume his search. He took a few more steps into the bushy area, cautiously looking around for a bunny or squirrel of some sort he might be able to watch rather than his useless sticks. Instead he found a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring back at him attached to a face that looked more like tree bark than skin. He shrieked and found a use for the sticks he still carried, tossing them at the thing and hurriedly racing back over to the others, clutching at his brother's legs.

"Peter! What in god's name are you yelling about? Are you alright?" Arthur asked, bending down to check on the frightened boy in much the same manner Antonio was doing for Lovino, the southern Italian denying that Peter's shriek had startled him into clinging onto the Spanish man's arm.

Peter continued to stare in the direction he'd seen that creature, fearful it followed him. Instead, he found it a little further back in one of the branches of the trees, looking more like a man from that distance and flanked by another person, this one looking like a girl. He gasped and pointed at them, the others looking in the direction. But despite Arthur's abilities, Peter found that Arthur somehow couldn't see either of them, not noticing the girl version slide down to disappear into the leafy area of the tree.

"Peter, there's nothing there." Arthur said in what he hoped was a comforting tone. "You need to keep quiet so you don't provoke those ghosts. It's alright love. You must've just scared yourself." He said, rubbing Peter's shoulders to try and calm him.

"No. He's there. Right there. Don't you see him?" Peter said, looking pleadingly up to Arthur for the older man to see what was terrifying him. "It's an…I don't know." He said, gasping as he looked over to the right and whimpering as he clung tighter to Arthur. "He keeps moving so quickly. He and the other one. A girl whatever it is….I think he wants to get me. Why can't you see him? He's…he's got a crown of some sort on his head. Can't you tell?" Peter said, crushing himself closer in a rare show of affection for his older brother. "Don't let him take me. Please…" Peter whispered, peering over Arthur's shoulder to see the creature move back again further into the forest, but still visible to Peter.

"There's nothing there. It's probably the leaves or something getting tossed about." Arthur said, wrapping his arms around Peter and sending a more scrutinizing look in the general direction of the forest Peter seemed to stare into.

"Uh oh…." Gilbert said, looking to Roderich. "Oh come on, there's a musical number for this. You of all people should've memorized it." He said when he got a confused look from the Austrian man. Roderich took a moment to try and recall anything that might have to do with what Gilbert was indicating, the albino man having had enough of waiting. "Der Erlkönig...ring a bell genius? Denmark knows of it too. It's no wonder we can't see it." Gilbert said, Roderich taking a moment to understand what Gilbert said before looking back over at Peter.

"What are you talking about?" Lovino finally asked after a moment of quiet save for Peter's occassional whimpers. He looked to Antonio for any possibly answers, but the spaniard looked as clueless as ever.

"The Erl King. Based on old legends of elf or goblin-like creatures that would come for the little ones and parents or older siblings couldn't protect them from it because the only ones that could see it, were the kids he'd decided to snatch." Gilbert explained, Arthur's eyes widening as Peter gave out a cry of fear at that. Roderich smacked Gilbert on the back of the head, the other man huffing in annoyance at that.

"You could have whispered the last part. Now the child's terrified." Roderich said, Gilbert shrugging as he looked around the tree he was hiding behind to check on things once more.

"Don't worry Peter. I won't let it take you." Arthur said, holding Peter close and continuing to rub his back in an effort to comfort him as well as himself. Gilbert snorted, looking unconvinced at the British man's supposed confidence.

"Yeah, right. That worked out so well in the stories too." Gilbert said, Roderich pinching his cheek in response to get the Prussian personification to keep from making any further comments of a similar nature. Peter, in response, hid his face in the crook of Arthur's neck as he tried to keep from outright bawling.

"It's alright, lad. I'll find a way to see it too and I'll drive it away. It's no match for a spell-caster such as me." Arthur said, shooting a glare at Gilbert that would have made the man pale if he hadn't already been so.

"Um…Ah…..Maybe we shouldn't stand around here though amigos….I think they heard the little guy's cries and….don't seem pleased someone's interrupting their quiet." Antonio said, grabbing Lovino and dragging the Italian after him as the younger personification didn't seem to be aware of the white shape that was gradually getting closer and heading straight for them. "Like….right now! Rapido!" Antonio said, pushing Lovino into running, the southern Italian tripping before finally noticing the additional member of their group and taking off into his world-renowned sprints to leave Antonio chasing after and pleading for him to slow down some. The others followed their lead, making their way deeper into the woods in an attempt to find some sort of safe haven until the others returned, Arthur carrying Peter as he, Gilbert and Roderich unknowingly veered off in a different direction than the other two.


	4. Chapter 4

Ludwig methodically made his way through the trees, Alfred hovering beside him in his reluctance to physically stand behind the German in some sort of compromise of heroic stature in the American's mind. Feliciano was nervously chatting along with Francis and Matthew, the Canadian more or less overlooked in the conversation. They hadn't gone very far before Matthew reached out to his twin's jacket to halt his march, startling Alfred into another shriek that was quickly turned into a cough as a blush began to cover Alfred's cheeks. Wordlessly, Matthew put a finger to his lips to get the others to quiet, Ludwig clamping a hand over Feliciano's mouth to be able to listen for what the Canadian had picked up on.

"Is that….singing?" Francis asked, walking closer to where Matthew and Alfred stood as he heard what sounded like a woman's voice. "That cannot be Ivan." He said, looking to gauge the other's opinions as they tried to determine if they should follow off the straight line Ludwig had been meticulous in ensuring they follow.

"That ain't our wintry friend. But I think it's worth a look." Alfred said, striding forward to follow after the voices. "He might've heard that and it drew him out here in the first place." He said, the others having to admit that there was some sound logic behind Alfred's plan, although it didn't seem like it could lead to anything good.

"M-Maybe he didn't. You know, he could be just up ahead and we wouldn't want to get distracted." Italy said, inching closer to Ludwig's side as he spoke. The German man sighed, noticing the less than subtle actions of the flighty Italian, placing a hand on Feliciano's shoulder.

"What if it's just a lost, lonely girl from the fest who got caught up in this mess?" Ludwig tried, certain that would be the trick for Feliciano to stop whimpering and entertain the thought of following after Alfred's lead, Matthew and Francis already also walking off. As expected, Feliciano perked up at the suggestion, looking up to his friend's face.

"Ve~. Of course! We should go see if she needs some company!" Feliciano said with a look on his face that made Ludwig rethink his course of action. But Feliciano had already started to follow the others, Ludwig quickly marking another tree to make sure they'd be able to find their way back.

They followed the voice for a short time, Ludwig having to shush Feliciano a couple of times to be able to determine its direction, finding that it eventually seemed to be multiple voices. Eventually, they came to an area closer to a wide stream, spotting Ivan laughing along with a handful of girls as they sang and danced around him.

"Oooh, that doesn't seem so bad…" Feliciano said, making to walk out of their hiding spot to go join the Russian man's apparent flirting. But Ludwig yanked him back into the cover of the foliage around them, keeping an arm around him.

"Nixie…." Ludwig said as though in awe and surprise at the figures. "Nein…it's not possible." He said, Feliciano tilting his head in confusion at the German's mumblings.

"Well, whatever they are, they look like they've got Ivan right where they want him." Alfred said, scurrying out from his spot to hide behind a closer tree to where Ivan stood with the women. One of the girls looked especially eager to get him closer to the water's edge, but Ivan continually pulled back, a couple of the others looking like they intended to tickle the tall man as he smiled and laughed along with them. "I may not see eye-to-eye with the dude, but the hero doesn't leave anybody behind." Alfred said, eyes wandering the area to assess what sort of plan he could come up with, ignoring his twin's whispers to be patient in case he did something to provoke another of whatever creatures they'd gotten stuck with in this forest. But when Ivan finally headed closer to the water, the fun instantly seemed to turn darker once the girl that had held Ivan's hand stepped into the water. The others could see Ivan's surprise as he was violently yanked into the water, the other girls jumping into the water.

"See! I told you!" Alfred said, racing forward without caution to reach where Ivan had been. Looking into the water, he could barely make out Ivan under the water with the girls' hair blocking his view, his original thought that it had looked to be green proven correct as it acted like camouflage to make it seem like Ivan just vanished. Alfred reached into the water and grabbed a handful of hair, flinging one and then another girl away so that they landed on the opposite bank before connecting with Ivan's sleeve and pulling back with all his strength.

He had expected some resistance, but it was much more than he'd thought a few scrawny girls could muster in their determination to keep Ivan under the water. Ivan broke the surface sputtering and coughing up water as he fought back, Alfred slipping a little into the stream. One of the girls that had been tossed out of the water made to lunge across to attack Alfred and Ivan and drag them both into the water as the American and Russian scrambled to get away from the water, working together to escape. But as she launched herself in the air, green hair clinging to her bluish-white skin, she was struck back by a tree branch wielded by Ludwig. The German man grunted as he used a large branch to cover Alfred and Ivan as the American finally disentangled the other from the last girls' hold, Ludwig swinging one last time to knock back a couple of the creatures into the water. The three men who'd been further back in the trees watching easily sensed the urgent need to run, taking off as Ludwig followed, Alfred carrying a soaked Ivan into the cover of the trees. Once they'd run a good distance from the stream, continuously checking over their shoulders to see if they were still being followed by the one girl that had been more persistent than the others, they all stopped to catch their breath in relative safety.

"What….just….happened?" Matthew gasped out, looking behind them once more just to be sure they were by themselves for the moment.

"Rusalka" Ivan said from where he was still cradled in Alfred's arms. "Put me down Amerika…" Ivan said, Alfred rolling his eyes and promptly dropping him onto the dirt in a completely indelicate manner, producing an 'oomphf' as Ivan connected with the ground. The Russian man shot Alfred a look, but said nothing as he got to his feet, rubbing his behind.

"Nein. Those were nixie. I thought they were all gone by the time I came around, although Gilbert used to tell me stories he'd heard from Germania." Ludwig said, still panting a little and rethinking his training regimen for day-after-Oktoberfest conditions too.

"Nyet. Rusalka. I know those were rusalka." Ivan said, looking to Ludwig as he'd avoided mentioning any thanks to Alfred for the other so quickly rushing to his rescue.

"If you knew what they were, why the heck didja follow them into the river? Crazy ruskie…" Alfred asked in bewilderment at Ivan's new level of craziness. Ivan gave a little shrug as he once again focused on Alfred.

"I was not sure until they tried to drown me. I thought it nice to make new friends, although…I thought green hair was strange. But people have strange hair colors these days, da?" Ivan said, looking off in contemplation as he thought about the odd behavior that now was obviously dangerous rather than playful. It was clear to the others that Ivan had some moments of difficulty in determining what was mere play and what was life-threatening situations, considering both laughable circumstances to enjoy.

"What are rusalka Ivan?" Francis asked, hoping to diffuse any tensions between the Russian, American and German men. "Are they the same as whatever these nixie are that Ludwig is talking about?"

"They are nixie. We are on my lands after all." Ludwig said again, sounding as though it mattered to be absolutely certain in attributing the correct name to the thing that was going to kill them.

"Rusalka….hmmm…..best translation I guess is mermaid." Ivan said, tapping his chin in thought. Alfred openly laughed at that, Matthew shushing him again as he recognized his twin's increasing irritation as a result of continuously being frightened.

"No way dude. Mermaids have fishy tails and sing cutesy songs and want to kiss princes and have little fishy friends. Those things wanted to suck your face off…and not in any good way" Alfred said in all seriousness, Francis sighing and shaking his head at Alfred's comment that was quickly followed by a look meant to indicate to Francis not to make any sort of remark on that.

"Mermaids drown sailors in just about every other tale Alfred." Ludwig said. "Like the Rhine Maidens of legend." He continued, Alfred looking blankly at him while Ivan nodded with his childish smile now back in place after recovering from his near-drowning.

"Da. Perhaps not 'mermaid' but they are like mermaid and ghost put together. Want to drown people but only if they can get person to follow them." Ivan said as though talking not about a killer creature but a difficult-to-train puppy. "If they cannot sing you to the water, they tickle you to death." He said with a shrug. "But die with smile on face." He finished, Francis and Matthew taking a step back from where Ivan was standing beside them.

"Okay dude. My version's way better and with better musical numbers." Alfred said, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly.

"Alfred, stop talking about….wait…" Ludwig said, looking around in a sudden panic. "I knew it was too quiet. Where is Feliciano?" He asked in a raised tone, the others noticing the absence of their friend. "Ver dammit….he must've kept running blindly." Ludwig said with a huff at his friend's scared nature, seeing the path the Italian had created as he fled.

"Well, I guess we are splitting up again." Francis said with a sigh as it seemed like at least two of them would have to continue following after Feliciano while the rest returned to the others to warn them of what had happened.

"Did nobody hear me the first time I said that was a bad idea? Why is it that in all the scary movies, people decide 'oh, there's a madman after me, I'll hide behind the chainsaws 'cuz he'll never go there'?" Alfred complained, voice rising in volume as he tried to get the others to listen to him. "Go for the easy answer…don't split up." He said emphatically, Ivan laughing at him.

"Silly Amerika is afraid." Ivan teased, finding the other's obvious plight to be entertaining. In response, Alfred practically growled at Ivan for not seeing the situation in the same way he did.

"Yeah, well, a little fear is healthy for ya. Keeps ya from oh, I dunno, getting into the water with your freaky mermaid thingies." Alfred said, waving his arms to make his point. "And I'm not afraid…heroes aren't scared so easily." He said, tilting his chin up in the air to stand defiantly in front of Ivan. But the image was ruined when Matthew quietly placed a hand on his brother's shoulder to try and calm him down, once again surprising Alfred into jumping into the air in fright.

"Oops. Sorry, eh." Matthew said apologetically to his twin, Alfred rubbing his chest to get over his fright. "But if we hadn't split up the first time, Ivan might be at the bottom of that stream. Feliciano might be in danger and we need to warn the others about there being other things than those ghosts at the castle to worry about." He said patiently, hoping his twin would see his reasoning. He may often be overlooked by just about everyone, but Alfred usually heard him, the Canadian sighing in relief when it seemed like Alfred was at least considering what he said.

"Oui. It should be simple enough to stay safe from these rusalka…or nixie…." Francis said, amending his terminology as Ludwig sent him a look. "Do not go near the water, do not listen to their singing or follow them, and don't reciprocate touching in case it leads to excessive tickling. Does that sound about right?" He asked, anxious to get moving after spending so much time in one spot with a possible creature waiting to pounce.

"That last part might be a little hard for ya, huh Francis?" Alfred teased with a smirk, Francis glaring at Alfred but grateful the other had calmed down. "Fine. Don't say I didn't warn everybody here. I'll head the team back to the castle." He said, sounding like they were picking baseball teams.

"I'll go after Feliciano then since these are my lands and I have the pocketknife to keep marking my way." Ludwig said, standing straighter and looking to the others to see who might join him.

"I will go with Ludwig. It can be just like friends spending time with one another." Ivan said cheerily, Ludwig suppressing a shiver to deter any strange actions from the Russian. As expected, neither Matthew nor Francis was exactly willing to go with him after Ivan volunteering, the two groups splitting off to go in opposite directions.


	5. Chapter 5

Romano ran at his top speed for as long as he could, vaguely hearing Antonio calling out for him some distance away. Eventually the southern Italian stopped, taking a moment to catch his breath in case he needed to sprint off again. He looked around, hearing only typical forest sounds as he tried to figure out just where he might've gotten himself as he realized he'd become completely disoriented and the castle was no longer in sight. So focused on trying to see if he could spot a glimpse of the castle over the trees, his natural clumsiness made itself known as he tripped over an exposed tree root, landing face-first in the dirt and tumbling a little down a small dip in the ground.

"Lovi! Romano, answer me!" Antonio's voice called out, Romano hesitant to call for help from him as he was sure he looked like a mess in addition to once again fleeing at top speed from something that he would deny had spooked him. "Por favor mi tomate….answer me! Lovi! Lovi!" Antonio called out again, sounding closer and more desperate as Lovino's silence was all that greeted him.

Closing his eyes and sighing in defeat at the knowledge he'd need to respond, Lovino mustered up the reserves to overcome his embarrassment. "Here, you bastard. I'm….here." Lovino called out in a tone just barely above his usual speaking volume, slightly hoping that Antonio wouldn't hear him. But it seemed Antonio had been intently listening for even the smallest of noises, easily picking up on the short reply.

"Oh Lovi! Lovi, what happened? Why are you on the ground?" Antonio said once he finally reached where Romano lay waiting for him to find him. Romano avoided looking at his former caretaker's face in his embarrassment, huffing and slapping Antonio's hands away as the other attempted to help him sit up.

"I thought this looked like a good spot for a siesta." Romano said sarcastically as he got to his feet, brushing the dirt and leaves off of him that were clinging stubbornly to his clothes and in his hair.

"This does not look like a good spot, Lovi. It's far too early anyway." Antonio said in confusion as he helped to get the leaves out of Romano's hair, the Italian warily watching the other's hands in case of another 'accidental' pull on his curl.

"I wasn't being serious, idiot. What do you think happened? I tripped!" Romano said, blushing again in frustration. "There, are you happy I said it? Mio Dio…." He grumbled while Antonio blinked once in understanding before chuckling a little at the other's clumsiness.

"Oh, si….you always make me happy Lovi." Antonio said, pulling the other man into a hug that Romano tried to pull out of, blush only darkening even though there was no one around to see such affection. Realizing this, Romano was about to reciprocate the hug when Antonio pulled back, the southern Italian trying not to let his disappointment show.

"What was that?" Antonio asked, Lovino listening to see if he could hear anything. He shrugged and looked back to Antonio, wondering if the other had just imagined something since they were both a little frazzled at the moment with all that was happening. But as he waited, about to comment on there being nothing to talk about, he heard what sounded like someone playing a guitar. He could see Antonio brighten up a bit at the familiar sound, the two of them heading off in the direction the sound was coming from. But Romano was back to holding onto Antonio's arm when he spotted what looked like another white shape like those at the castle, urging Antonio to stop moving. But as he watched, the blurs were more defined than the ones that were making Gilbert's castle their haunting place, and in the middle of what appeared to be five people, was clearly a masculine form that was playing a guitar.

"What day of the week is it?" Antonio whispered to Lovino, catching the other off guard with such a seemingly random comment. The southern Italian looked to his former caretaker as though he had really lost his mind, scrutinizing his face for a moment too long as Antonio looked sharply to him with an unspoken urgency that snapped him back into answering.

"Uh….Saturday. Or Sunday now….I think. I'm not sure of anything right now with the potato-bastards crazy shi-…." Lovino replied, Antonio placing a hand on the other's mouth to keep from getting too loud as he got worked up. Romano huffed and pulled the hand off of his face. "Why is that so important to you right now and not the creepy guitar-playing man with the…admittedly, not unsightly women…." Lovino said, trailing off as he watched the dancing women prance about among the trees, a look in his eyes reminiscent of his brother when he encountered a similar set of apparitions. "You know…maybe we should just go…." He said, Antonio pulling him quickly to his side and dropping them back into the dirt Romano had just brushed off of him, using a bush as an attempt at cover.

"Have you forgotten, little Roma? I told you so many stories about them…" Antonio said in a hushed tone as Romano attempted to brush the dirt off of him once more. "They are the Donas de fuera. They must be with all the other strange things going on with this forest. Just look at them." He said, Romano arching a brow at the oddly serious tone that the Spaniard occasionally used. He looked again at the group before recognizing that they matched the old descriptions that Antonio had given to him concerning his lands and were also found in Sicily as well.

"Great. So now that we know who they are, what are we supposed to do?" Romano said, turning to look back at Antonio, only to see him looking at something behind Romano with a wary look. Slowly, Romano turned to look over his other shoulder, scooting a little closer to Antonio when he came face-to-face with a woman's face. He panted a few times as thought to scream, Antonio quickly clamping a hand over the other's mouth again as he sent an anxious smile to the woman, receiving a blank look for a moment before the woman smiled and reached for them. She pulled them out of their hiding place, the two men stumbling towards the center of the group as two more girls sat them on a log with a giggle.

"Don't. Say. A word." Antonio whispered through his smile, Romano shooting him a frightened look. "They like an audience for their shows. Keep quiet. Don't fall asleep." He managed to whisper out quickly as it seemed the man of the group had momentarily called the girls' attention long enough to issue his warning, but unfortunately not nearly long enough to make any attempt at escape. "They'll move on after they're done. Sleep and they'll turn into aydons, remember? These won't kill unless they turn so…"Antonio said, breaking off hastily with another smile when the girls simultaneously turned back to face the two trapped personifications.

Lovino shook in Antonio's hold as they stood there for a moment, guitar strings breaking the tension as they began their dancing again. Lovino looked to Antonio, grasping the other's hand in his own and sending the message with his eyes that he would never admit to that action once these apparitions eventually gave their encore performance for them. Until then, both men knew that they were more or less a literally _captive_ audience.


	6. Chapter 6

Feliciano eventually stopped running once he ended up sliding through a particularly slippery pile of wet leaves, tumbling over himself until he came to a complete stop while still whimpering. He panted on the ground for a few moments before getting back to his feet, opening his eyes as he looked around and came to the horrifying realization that he had outrun his friends and was therefore hopelessly lost. _Oh, where's a good tomato box to hide in when you really need it?_ Feliciano thought as he looked around in terror at the endless arrangement of trees.

"Ve~…." He called out as he twisted around and around in a fruitless attempt to spot the others. "G-Germany?" He cried out in a frightened tone, not moving from where he stood. "G-Germany! Germany! H-Help! Ooooh…Germany!" He pleaded into the empty space, the fog seemingly twisting about just to heighten his sense of uneasiness. The northern Italian slowly continued forward, continually calling out for one of the others, although Germany was almost always in the mix of names he called.

Getting tired, Feliciano was relieved when he spotted what appeared to be a more open area with tall grass reaching upward thanks to the lack of covering from the tree canopies. The Italian was always fond of meadows, which were the landscapes he enjoyed painting in and making paintings of frequently when he was able to do so. He sighed and headed out into the meadow, the grass reaching up to mid-thigh as he walked, trailing his hands over the blades of grass as he looked around the area. Noticing some pretty bluish-colored boulders the grass didn't obscure, he made his way over to them and plopped down on them with a heavy sigh. _Maybe if I just take a little break from all this looking, the others will find me_ , Feliciano thought as he draped an arm over his eyes to relax.

He was almost asleep when he thought he felt the ground move, prompting him to warily open his eyes and take a closer look at his surroundings. Seeing nothing, he was about to lay down again when the boulder shifted beneath him. Feliciano let out a shriek at that, jumping off the boulder just in time to avoid getting tossed off violently as the boulders continued to move. The Italian managed to get to his feet in time to see the ground rise up, destroying the illusion that the boulders were actually boulders as an azure snake head popped up from the grass. Feliciano stood petrified with fear at the sight of the gigantic snake, crying and whimpering at the image the beast made as its attention narrowed in on the one that had inadvertently woken it up.

"Biscione?" Feliciano gasped out as he vaguely recognized some features of the monster. "B-But…that's not p-possible. Ah!" He shouted out as the snake darted toward him, lunging out of the way as it slithered around in what was an irritated state. "Ah! I'm sorry I interrupted your siesta. I hate when that-a happens to me too. I'll just leave you to it then. Si. Then we can just be friends, sounds good, right? I'll make you all sorts of yummy foods if you stop looking at me like I'm the yummy food!" Feliciano cried out as he continued to dodge the snake monster, trying desperately to get back to the cover of the trees even though he couldn't tell from which side of the meadow from which he'd come.

"You're supposed to be on _my_ side, aren't you? It's why you're on the crests of…whaah!" Feliciano yelled, jumping over the tail end of the snake as it writhed around to reorient itself to strike again at the Italian man. Gasping, Feliciano got back to his feet, sprinting back towards any line of cover as he fled from the serpent. "Germany! Germany! Romano! France! Spain!" He called out with each dodge he had to give, finding himself becoming encircled by the creature. "Ah! America! Germany! Anyb-body!" He cried out as the snake lowered its head to almost level with Feliciano's eyes. He whimpered as it slowly opened its mouth again, hissing heard as saliva dripped off its fangs in anticipation of a meal. As it lunged forward, Feliciano braced himself and ducked under the head, crawling on the ground as the snake kicked up dust clouds as it slammed into the ground.

Panting but using that opportunity to flee, Feliciano raced back to the trees, hoping that the smaller space available through the trees and the lesser amount of grass the snake clearly preferred to lounge in, would be enough to give him a chance to escape. He had just made it to the edge of the meadow, reaching for one of the trees when the tail end of the snake whipped around to knock him off his feet. With a grunt as he collided with the ground, the Italian man hesitantly opened his eyes again to see the creature block his only chance of another duck-and-cover move he'd pulled before to get away. Feliciano whimpered as the snake once again made ready to strike, curling up into a ball in a last act of protecting himself. But instead of the crunch he'd expected to hear of the snake biting into him, he heard a dull thump of something metallic-sounding colliding with the snake. Peeking out from his arms, Feliciano barely had a moment to recover before he was lifted up by strong arms he instantly recognized.

"Germany! Germany! Oh, Ludwig! I could-a kiss you!" Feliciano said, proceeding to repeatedly kiss the German man on the cheeks in gratitude. Ludwig grunted at the display as he carried his friend a little farther into the cover of the trees, Feliciano spotting Ivan continually whacking the gigantic snake with his pipe.

"Why did you not use that when _you_ were being attacked?!" Ludwig shouted to Ivan as he raced to hold the tail end of the creature to allow Ivan the chance to pummel it some more, an action the other man was undertaking with his usual gleeful smile on his face yet determination in his eyes.

"I was having a good time then." Ivan said, turning to briefly look at the other man before gracefully twirling like one of his ballerinas to avoid getting snagged on the snake's fangs. He bashed his pipe against the side of the snake's head, hitting its eyes and producing a pained sound from the creature.

"Ve~…weren't you being drowned?" Feliciano said, coming back over to stand closer to Ludwig and ignoring the other's requests for him to stand back.

"Small details…" Ivan said with a shrug, climbing on top of the snake's head when it was low enough to the ground again for him to do so. Ludwig and Feliciano watched with wide eyes as Ivan chuckled as he continued to strike the snake until it fell to the ground, either unconscious or dead. Neither man wanted to check and the Russian that was dismounting it looked too winded to be bothered to check – it wasn't moving and that was all they needed at the moment.

"Grazie….." Feliciano said to both of them before whispering to his friend. "Russia can be so scary…." Feliciano whimpered, hiding behind Ludwig as the German man sighed before turning away from the sight of Ivan readjusting his scarf to instead look over Feliciano.

"Are you injured Italy?" Ludwig asked in a very business-like manner that Feliciano had long-since grown used to, understanding it to be the way his friend showed his care for the other man. Feliciano shook his head in the negative before once more flinging himself into the blonde's arms, bawling about the mean and scary monster that was out to get him when he had just been trying to share the meadow with it. Ludwig sighed in both relief as his friend resumed his typical behavior, looking over to Ivan to asses if the Russian man had sustained any injuries.

"I am fine too. Nothing but some scratches the naughty rusalka gave me when try to drag me to bottom of river." Ivan said, Ludwig just noticing that the man's arms were indeed scratched up pretty badly from the grip those other monsters had on him as Alfred pulled him from their clutches.

"Nixie…" Ludwig said, Ivan shooting him a look that made the other refrain from any additional corrections about the name of that monster – if Ivan wanted to call them after his own creatures, Ludwig was content to let him take them back home with him. "If you are sure, then we should start heading back before that thing wakes up and goes after Feliciano again." Ludwig said, Feliciano tightening his grip on Ludwig and whimpering as he nodded in agreement at getting as far away from that creature as they could.

"Why didn't Alfredo have those scratches on him too?" Feliciano asked as they started to look for the notches Ludwig had made on the trees. "We all saw him fighting with a couple of them when he went after you." Feliciano said as he looked to Ivan, the other man simply shrugging again, not seemingly too worried about thinking over his longtime rival's possible injuries from rescuing him. Not much more was said about the topic of monsters in the woods as they made their way through the forest again, Ludwig essentially carrying a frightened Feliciano on his back.

"Feliciano, when will you be able to walk on your own?" Ludwig asked in exasperation. "If there is anything else we may need to deal with, I will need to be able to fight." He said, Feliciano choosing to hide his face in his friend's back at the thought of any more monsters, earning a groan from the German man who was seriously considering dropping his friend.

"I can carry you for a little while." Ivan offered with a smile, opening his arms in what normally might be seen as a friendly gesture. "Become one with Russia, da?" He said with a chuckle, prompting Feliciano to cling even tighter to Ludwig and momentarily throw the other man off-balance.

"Feliciano, have you remembered nothing from our training sessions?" Ludwig said, trying to pry the vice-like grip around his shoulders off. "We must be vigilant in case…" He was saying over Feliciano's mumbling, Ivan shushing them with wide eyes.

"You hear that?" Ivan asked, looking around to see if he could pinpoint from which direction the noise he heard had come. "Sounds like our friend may have woken up…" He said, looking back to the others and motioning for them to be quiet. They stood still for a moment, the other two not hearing the same rustling as Ivan had heard, Feliciano popping his head up at the continued silence.

"I don't hear any-…" He began to say, the sudden arrival of a falling tree to their right interrupting him and signaling the arrival of the now very irritated giant snake.

"Run!" Ludwig said to Ivan, taking off with Feliciano still attached to his back as he attempted to either elude the monster or find a safe spot to use for cover. Ivan followed close-by, the three of them hoping to avoid running into anything else as they dealt with this monster.


	7. Chapter 7

Alfred was talking animatedly as usual about nobody listening to what the hero had to say and making his job harder, although he professed to still doing it anyway because that was the sort of things heroes did. Matthew only sighed and nodded where appropriate, shooting a look of shared suffering with Francis as his twin tried his best to put on a brave front. Matthew could tell that Alfred was clearly afraid of the amount of actual ghosts he seemed to be facing almost around every tree, but in true Alfred fashion, had resorted to 'hero-mode' to push those fears to the back of his mind and keep fighting. If there was one thing that was consistent for Matthew, it was that Alfred typically went with 'fight' when the 'flight or fight' response kicked it; almost always anyways since he refused to count Arthur's Halloween scares as a legitimate case to consider.

"Man….how long ya think we've been here? I'm starving and we all skipped breakfast too." Alfred whined, stopping short as he held his stomach. He rifled through his pockets for the usual things he'd stuff away, pulling out some candy bars he'd gotten. He wordlessly handed a package to Matthew, the Canadian taken by surprise as the bar was thrust in his face when he was looking the other way.

"Oh…chocolate-covered granola and mixed nuts bars…." Matthew said as he read the label, surprised at the somewhat healthy food choice. He ripped open the packaging, handing one of them to an unamused but still hungry Francis.

"Yeah, grabbed that one only 'cuz it was next to the licorice. Part of a 'buy this get that half off' deal. Kinda forgot about it but figured you'd eat it." Alfred said as he rifled through his pockets, pulling out another package, this time producing a pop-tart. Alfred made a triumphant sound at the more appropriately sugary snack, quickly devouring it without much said before shooting a happy grin to the others.

"If you're done stuffing your face with that thing you call a pastry, may we keep going?" Francis sarcastically asked, finishing up the last of the granola bar that had more chocolate than granola in it.

"Which way next Alfred?" Matthew asked, grateful that his twin had shared his food without making a show of then asking what he'd get in return. _Probably because he didn't really want that bar in the first place_ , Matthew thought, rolling his eyes as his twin looked around.

"Umm…." Alfred said, scratching his head in thought. "I thought you guys were keepin' track of all that." He said with a shrug, Francis huffing in irritation.

"I thought you were the 'leader'" Francis said to Alfred, the American shrugging in response as though that was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah. I'm the _leader_ not the _navigator_. I thought…oh, there…" Alfred said, pointing out where one of the trees had four slashed in it. "See? We're not lost." He said, Francis shaking his head as he held a hand to his forehead, mumbling about how he should've listened to Arthur more when he'd spoken of Alfred's apparent inability to retain geographic awareness outside of his own borders.

"Al, I don't think that's the mark Ludwig was making for us to follow." Matthew said as he followed his twin brother over to the tree, taking a closer look at the markings. "Look at it. Those look like…" He was saying, scrutinizing the tree a little more.

"Claw marks…" Alfred finished for his twin as he too came to an understanding. "What do you think made this? A bear? Does Ludwig still have bears roaming around his forests?" Alfred asked, looking to Francis for an answer. "I mean, once upon a time old Iggy had bears on his lands, right? You even had lions at one point. You think there might be something that used to be in the forests that aren't around so much now? This ain't a normal forest after all." Alfred said, looking around at the way the fog seemed to follow them wherever they were instead of them eventually reaching the end of the fog bank.

Francis shook his head negatively, coming closer himself to inspect the tree. A howl in the distance made them all stiffen a little at the sound. "Non…but there are wolves…." Francis said warily, looking around the forest. "And that would have to be a very big wolf to have made those marks. They're at the same height as if you or I were to make a swing at the tree…But…" Francis said, looking over to Matthew with wide eyes. "Non…loup-garou aren't…pas possible…" Francis said just as another howl sounded off.

"Excuse me? What was that?" Alfred said as Matthew gasped and covered his mouth with his hand at what the Frenchman said. "Did you just say rougarou? As in that thing around New Orleans?" Alfred asked in disbelief.

"Oui." Francis said before shaking his head. "I-I mean non. How did you get rougarou from loup-garou?" Francis said with a sharp look to Alfred, the American returning it with one of his own whenever one of the Europeans made a comment about the American version of either language or food 'not doing justice' to the 'authentic'.

"Can we focus on the fact that there is a _werewolf_ in the forest with us?" Matthew pleaded, getting between Francis and Alfred to passively make his point. Alfred rolled his eyes as he looked to his equally-frightened twin.

"Nah. There couldn't be Mattie." Alfred said confidently. "It's daytime." He said, pointing upwards to the cloudy sky that they could just make out between the leaves at the tops of the trees.

"But that made no difference before. It was only Angleterre and you that made the versions about them only coming out at night the most prevalent stories." Francis said to Alfred, the three of them cautiously making their way through the forest and away from where the animal had marked its territory. "You like history, non? Ever hear of the werewolf of Dole?" Francis asked, Alfred giving him a blank look in response.

"Which state is that supposed to be in? You mean like the Dole company with the fruit cups and stuff?" Alfred said, looking to be lost in thought about more food products. Matthew couldn't help but chuckle at that, although Francis was clearly not as amused.

"Non. I mean the one on my lands." Francis said, Alfred not looking chastised at all. "The witch hunts recorded a man living there who claimed he was a werewolf. He didn't need the full moon to change either." Francis continued, the three of them pausing again in their movements as they tried to determine if they should continue backtracking as best they could.

"Great. Well, it's looking more and more like we're in 'Little Red Riding Hood' right now with no path to follow." Alfred said with irritation in his voice. "I've got no axe like the story goes, but I'm pretty sure a bullet will do the trick too." Alfred said, patting his side where his gun was being carried.

"You carry around silver bullets too, eh?" Matthew teased, more at ease since they hadn't heard another howl from whatever large wolf-like creature was around for a while. Alfred smirked back at him but Francis didn't seem to share in their attempts to keep from dwelling too much on their unlucky circumstances.

"Oh, there's another mark. That ones' gotta be from Ludwig." Alfred said, heading over to another tree. "What? Aw man, that can't be right." Alfred said, pointing out another claw mark. "We definitely came from this direction, right? So, did either of you notice this one before?" He asked, looking confused as he tried to figure out just how lost they were.

"Alfred, I think you should come over here." Matthew said, calling for his brother to head back over to where he and Francis were standing. "I think maybe…maybe this thing is messing with us. It's been tracking us or something." He said, Alfred still inspecting the slash marks on the tree as if contemplating if they were actually claw marks or if Ludwig had been making some stranger marks. "I think you should just leave that _alone_ Al." Matthew tried again, Alfred holding up a hand to indicate one more minute before heading back out.

"Maybe this is some kind of special, never-before-recorded animal. It could be an awesomely cool scientific discovery." Alfred was saying, Matthew fearing he was about to lose his brother to his insanely curious nature.

"I've told you what it is. We shouldn't linger here for very long." Francis said, getting more anxious the longer they stood around. "I know we are on Ludwig's lands, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had legends of such things too." He said, watching as Alfred bent down to pick up a tuft of hair that was on the ground.

"This is better than all the scraps Sasquatch leaves behind. Seriously, I think that guy's just bein' difficult." Alfred said with a teasing look to Matthew at the mention of their shared cryptid. Focused on looking over the fur, he almost missed the cracking of a twig off to his left. Alfred quickly dodged out of the way of the brown mass of fur that launched itself at him, avoiding the teeth but unable to avoid getting dropped to the ground as the wolf managed to clip his side.

"Al!" Matthew cried out as he watched his brother wrestle with the animal, wishing he had his hockey stick with him to wield. Looking around quickly, he was about to just rush to his brother when Francis' arms held him back. He looked to the Frenchman in a mix of disbelief at not allowing him to go aid his brother, and confusion as to what the other was thinking about since he hadn't just bolted like he'd expected. Luckily, Alfred was able to get back to his feet, managing to keep an arm on the beasts' neck to keep his mouth from reaching him. With one quick kick up to land between the creature's legs, the werewolf's legs gave out and allowed Alfred the chance to escape.

"Whoa! Okay then…um…Go, go, go!" Alfred said, spurring the other two men into running head of Alfred, hearing the werewolf growling in both anger and pain behind them. "Faster dudes!" Alfred said, grabbing the back of Francis' shirt when the Frenchman stumbled, essentially picking him off the ground to keep him from getting separated before letting him get his footing again. They kept up running until Matthew pointed in a direction that looked like it might give them some chance to hide. They had run back to where they had split up from the group, the others wary of getting too near the water but running alongside it to reach the hillside that Matthew had pointed out what appeared to be caves for them to try and lose the werewolf.

The three quickly entered into one of the caves, following into the darkness as far as they could go. Francis, spotting another tunnel for them to use to evade the wolf and hoping the damp smell from being so near the stream would mask their own scent, grabbed ahold of Matthew's sleeve to direct him toward where he decided to hide. The two squeezed themselves into a craggy opening in one of the cave walls, Matthew not focusing on the fact that Francis would have an unbelievable opportunity at that moment to let his hands wander with a legitimate excuse. Thinking of this only briefly, Matthew gasped as he realized his twin was no longer with them.

"Where's Alfred?" Matthew asked of his former caretaker, unable to see the other's face in the darkness of the cave. "Let me go Francis. I have to find him." He said as he crawled out of their hiding spot, although his voice sounding trembling to his own ears as the usually timid Canadian tried to take a stand.

"Non. He will be fine. He is the one with the gun, remember?" Francis said, the two of them falling silent as they heard what sounded like footsteps nearby. Hastily, Francis tried to get them to get back into their hiding spot before the werewolf caught a whiff of their scent. But, being as they were in the dark, nothing was quiet as easy as it should have been and their attempts to be quiet as they shuffled around were easily picked up by the creature. Without much warning other than a huff from the wolf that made the hair on the back of their neck stand on end, the werewolf came after them, eyes practically glowing in the dark.

Matthew yelled as the wolf shoved him to the ground as it pounced, tensing as he waited for the claws or teeth to make an appearance. But instead, the creature continued forward after briefly discovering which man it had knocked over to not be the one it apparently wanted, darting after Francis. The Frenchman gave a terrified shriek as he did his best to dodge the oncoming attack. Getting to his knees, Matthew grabbed the tail of the creature, regretting it almost instantly as the werewolf again turned its attention on him to take a swipe at him. Matthew gasped as the hit landed, knocking him back onto the ground, Francis cursing in his language nearby.

Matthew groaned from his position on the ground, trying and failing to see where his opponent was in the darkness that was the cave. But he could hear the werewolf moving on from him, turning back to focusing on Francis. Matthew reached into his pocket for his phone, hoping that he might be able to provide a distraction and a possibility of escape for Francis if he could get the light to temporarily stun the creature's eyes now that it was used to the dark. The Canadian quickly managed to do just that, shining the light in the direction of the noises from where Francis was doing all he could to fend off – or run away from – the monster.

His light illuminated where the werewolf had cornered the Frenchman, Francis' arms blocking his face as he pressed against the creature's neck to keep it from being able to reach its snout closer to take a bite out of him. Already, its claws were digging into his shoulders as it leaned over where Francis lay on the ground. Matthew gasped again, but before he had time enough even to call out his former caretaker's name, a shot rang out that was nearly deafening in the way it echoed off the cave walls. Matthew watched as the creature gave out a whine before slumping onto Francis, the older personification grunting from the weight before shouting and hastily pushing the beast off of him.

Looking up and over to where the shot had come from while trying to catch his breath, Francis was able to see just at the edge of the light provided by Matthew, Alfred standing with his gun still at the ready. "Merci….Amerique….merci…." Francis panted out, snapping Alfred out of his battle-ready stance to come closer. "You took your time, though." Francis said with a bit of irritation in his voice as he shuffled over to Matthew. "Se hâter! The loup-garou hurt poor Mathieu." Francis said, getting Alfred's attention from where he was poking at the creature experimentally to see if he'd managed to actually kill the thing.

"What happened Mattie? Where're ya hit?" Alfred said as he hurried over to stand on the other side of where Matthew had propped himself up a bit, Francis already running a hand over the other's head and chest in a way that plainly wasn't like his usual method.

"N-N-No…I…I'm f-fine, eh." Matthew stuttered out, dropping his phone to run a hand over his chest where he was sure the werewolf had hit him and possibly sliced him open. Seeing this, Francis hastily began to undo the other's gray sweatshirt, no doubt already having discovered the tears in the fabric even without the light shining on him. "I…R-Really….I don't feel anything. Except probably a bruise or something." He said, trying to shy away from the attention.

"Dude. That probably isn't a _good_ thing." Alfred said, picking up his twin's phone to shine the light on him, accidentally shooting the light into the other's eyes and making Matthew wince. That was all it took though for Francis to be able to push the other down into laying on the ground, gently speaking to him in soft-spoken French that he was going to help.

"I'll be fine once Al stops trying to _blind_ me." Matthew said, his composure returning to him a little more. "Alfie, please…"Matthew said, shielding his eyes with his hand as Francis succeeding in prying open the damaged zipper and made short work of unbuttoning the Canadian's shirt – no doubt the result of years and years of practice, both North Americans thought.

"Quoi? Je ne comprends pas" Francis said, running a hand over Matthew's chest and feeling for himself that the Canadian was nothing more than slightly bruised, his chest rising and falling evenly to indicate no internal injuries either.

"Huh? I thought you said it got him?" Alfred said, having sheepishly lowered the light so that it was no longer shining directly into his twin's eyes. Matthew uncovered his eyes, seeing for himself the lack of damage from the monster.

"It did. I felt it hit me. And the claws tore through my shirts…" Matthew said in confusion while Francis let his hands linger on the other a little longer, the Canadian feeling the need to remind him to remove them soon if Francis didn't do so on his own. For the moment though, all three of them were a little confused, Matthew finally allowed to sit up. "Et toi, Francis? Comment allez-vous?" Matthew said, reaching for the other's shoulders to indicate the bloody marks left by the creature as it had pinned him down.

"C'est rien" Francis said dismissively. "I was not thrilled with this shirt anyway." He said with a small smile, clearly pleased that neither of them had been seriously injured. Of course, his typical attitude was returning with the lack of a monster chasing after them, his signature wink allowing the North Americans to realize he really was just fine save for the claw marks that would be healed soon enough.

"Okay then….how 'bout we get outta here and see if we can find our way back?" Alfred said, helping both Matthew and Francis stand up again, handing Matthew's phone back to him. "Next time, stay with the hero, alright?" He said, Matthew giving a short chuckle at that.

"Where did you disappear to anyway Alfred? And are we sure that thing is staying dead?" Francis asked, shooting a wary look behind Alfred to gaze at the still unmoving form of the werewolf. According to their last conversation before they'd unwittingly split up again – a fact that both French-speakers were sure Alfred would probably bring up again – Alfred was bemoaning the fact that there wasn't anything silver with which to attack the werewolf.

"I ended up going to the left when you guys went to the right. But don't worry about that thing, it's definitely dead." Alfred said, finally putting his gun back into his holster once he too was confident that the werewolf was staying down. "I found this, like, statue garden or something with a bunch of coins and stuff on the floor. I grabbed a silver one and crumpled it up to fit in my gun's barrel – instant silver bullet." He said with a wide smile, pleased with himself. "I heard your girly shrieking and figured I needed to get back here fast."

Francis rolled his eyes before taking on a confused expression. "Alfred, how were you planning on shooting at that thing in the dark? And with only one bullet? What if you had missed?" He asked, rubbing his left shoulder as they walked, Alfred leading the way to show the other two what he had found.

"Well I didn't" Alfred said bluntly, shrugging in response while Francis only sighed. "'Sides, I figured the one _not_ making the whiny noises wasn't the werewolf." He said with a laugh, Francis not bothering to respond with any retort in favor of trying to just keep moving forward. They shortly arrived at the area Alfred had mentioned, some light coming into the cavern as it seemed that there was another opening nearby. "Oh, wait…" Alfred said, covering his eyes and then Matthew's before they went any further.

"W-What? This isn't some sort of den for a gorgon, is it?" Matthew whispered in a panicked tone, wondering why Alfred would think it a good idea to go back if that was something he'd run across the last time he was there.

"Huh?" Alfred asked in genuine confusion. "No…it's just….if we go slow, we won't have to look at them." He said, further irritating and confusing his twin. But before he could continue to question what his brother was trying to protect him from this time, Francis' laugh had both stopping.

"It is alright Mathieu." Francis said in a teasing manner as he backtracked to stand beside the two. "This is a grotto with classical sculptures. Ones that appreciate the human form." He said, trailing off into laughs again.

"What?" Matthew asked, removing his brother's hand from his eyes to look around. He spotted six statues placed around the walls, another lying off its pedestal to lay face-down on the floor. "Oh…" He said as he saw what had his twin so flustered. "Al, it's just art." He said with his own chuckle as Alfred continued to keep one hand over his eyes and the other outstretched to find his way around.

"Yeah…but…" Alfred said, a blush coming to his face, "…they're all _naked_. No fig leaf or nothin'" He said in a more hushed tone, as if saying that was as bad as taking a look. "I only was able to find the silver coins 'cuz I was looking down." He said, Matthew and Francis laughing some more.

"Oh, Amerique…there is nothing to be ashamed about." Francis said, wrapping an arm around Alfred's shoulders as he enjoyed teasing the other and watching as Alfred's blush only darkened. "Come now. How will you show us the way out if you keep your eyes covered?" He said, receiving a defeated sigh as Alfred lowered his hand although refusing to lower his eyes at all, prompting more laughs at his expense.

Alfred cleared his throat to try and get over his embarrassment before pointing in one direction. "There's a waterfall over in that direction that leads back out into the forest. I didn't check out where since I rushed back to find you two, but I'm sure it's…." He was saying, looking only at Matthew's face as he spoke. But the sound of Francis tripping over something as he'd clearly only been looking at the statues rather than where he was walking, had Alfred turning to see what happened. "Ugh…dude…that ain't a handle." He said as he watched Francis reach up to the statue to help pull himself out of the small hole he'd managed to tumble into, inadvertently grasping onto a certain area of the male statue's anatomy.

"Hon hon hon…I think I might have enjoyed meeting the model for this particular piece." Francis said as he let go, dusting himself off a little while Matthew shook his head at the Frenchman's teasing of his brother even though he knew that the other might actually mean what he was saying too. He too was appreciating the way Alfred was having a hard time with the fact he was surrounded by naked statues, but he knew his older brother could spiral out of control very easily if they weren't careful.

"Shut up." Alfred said, blush returning for force. "C'mon already. Let's go." He said, grabbing Matthew's arm to drag his twin after him. He didn't bother to look behind to see if Francis was following, heading straight through the waterfall and emerging back into the forest by a small stream. The two quickly headed away from the stream in case there were any more creatures in that area of the water, sitting down on one of the rocks to wait for Francis to follow them.

"You know he might be a while." Matthew said as he sat beside his twin, focusing on re-buttoning his shirt again. Alfred gave a shrug, obviously not willing to go drag him out unless he had to after the way the Frenchman had made him uncomfortable with his relentless teasing. "I still can't believe I don't have a scratch on me. That's just strange, eh." He said, Alfred shooting him a disbelieving look.

"'Cuz having creepy mermaids and werewolves after you is perfectly normal." He said sarcastically, Matthew nodding in consent that the other made a valid point.

"Don't forget the ghosts. Lots of ghosts too." He said, Alfred tensing and shooting his twin an unamused look that made Matthew wince a little at his slip. "Sorry eh…didn't mean to make you scared again." He said, Alfred huffing and crossing his arms.

"I'm not scared." He said, looking over to see Francis emerging from beneath the waterfall and spotting them. The other two got up to head over to them when they heard what sounded like a group of somethings headed their way. Alfred quickly pulled his twin and Francis into the cover of the trees, hiding down to see if they needed to go back for more silver coins for Alfred to use. But instead of seeing any more monsters, what emerged instead were Gilbert and Roderich, followed by Arthur with Peter in his arms.

"You think this is far enough?" Roderich asked, leaning on his knees and panting from the exertion he normally avoided. Gilbert shrugged as he too panted, looking back the way they came while Arthur gently patted the back of Peter's head, whispering something before setting him down. Peter sniffled and rubbed his eyes, heading closer to the stream presumably to calm himself with the familiar presence of water.

The three that had spotted them and were about to call out to their fellow lost friends also noticed this, Alfred gasping and rushing over to quickly pick up the little boy and keep him away from the water. Peter screamed louder than Alfred though possible, gaining the others' attention as Matthew and Francis caught up to Alfred.

"Hey, hey…easy big guy." Alfred said, loosening his grip a bit so that Peter could turn and look up at who was holding him. "It's just me." Alfred smiled to Peter, the little boy unable to stop his tears and clinging to the other man as he trembled. "Hey, it's okay. It's okay…" He said, gently rubbing the boy's back and looking over to Arthur for some answers, the British man having practically materialized next to them as soon as Peter screamed. "The hero's got you. You're safe." He continued to try and calm the boy, Peter's sobs lessening a little as he was rocked.

"We sure are glad to see you guys." Matthew said with a timid smile, not sure what to make of what was happening. The three of them had apparently surprised the others just as much as they'd been concerned, making him wonder if they'd been running from something other than the ghosts that had been at the castle.

"Why aren't you all waiting by the castle still? I know it's been a while, but _someone_ got us lost." Francis asked, voicing Matthew's question as he shot a pointed look over to Alfred. The American responded with an equally fierce glare as he handed Peter back to Arthur, the British man instantly wrapping his arms around the little boy.

"Those ladies apparently knew we were hanging around and thought we were making too much noise for them." Gilbert answered, as Roderich still needed another minute or two to recover it seemed. The Austrian merely nodded in support of what the other said, not used to such sprints.

"Well, where are the others?" Matthew asked as Alfred continued to be focused on whatever discussion he was having with Arthur, his 'hero' expression back in place as he listened.

"Antonio went after Romano when the moron decided to flee in a different direction." Gilbert said with a shake of his head. "I doubt those ghosts will go after him though so as long as Romano doesn't kill him, Antonio should be just fine." He said with a smirk, knowing that the Italian's outbursts could become amusingly violent for the albino man to watch his Spanish friend attempting to handle.

"Where are Ludwig and Feliciano?" Roderich asked, having caught his breath. He was still a little red in the face, but was back to business like usual. "And Ivan? Shouldn't they be with you as well?" He asked, Francis nodding.

"Feliciano was a little…spooked….by the creatures that Ivan was being….distracted…by. Alfred fought them off before they could drown Ivan in the stream." He said, motioning to the water so that the others understood Alfred's actions. The Austrian and Prussian man's eyes widened and they took a few steps away from the stream, no longer standing with their backs to the water. "Ludwig and Ivan went after him while we intended to go back and warn you that there were other things to be worried about in this forest besides Dame Blanches." He said, crossing his arms as best he could with his shoulders still aching.

"What the hell happened to you?" Arthur asked of Francis, spying the bloodied shirt once he was done speaking with Alfred. France smirked as he looked directly at his frenemy, huffing a little.

"Well, _someone_ noticed at least. How sweet of you Angleterre." Francis said as he blew a kiss to the other, Arthur's face flushing a little at being teased.

"That was a werewolf. Don't worry though. The hero got him!" Alfred said a little loudly, standing proudly next to the others. Arthur rolled his eyes at the outburst, Peter seeming to calm down a little with having Alfred around to keep his mind off of the creature that had it out for him. Instead of asking anything else of Francis, Arthur instead looked to Alfred but the American pointed over to have his twin explain.

"Um…well…it really _was_ a loup-garou. At least, that's what it seemed like it had to have been since it was huge. It got me across the chest and knocked me back pretty far so it could go after Francis." Matthew said quickly, biting his bottom lip in his nervousness.

"Are you alright?" Arthur asked, walking over to Matthew with Peter still in his arms. Matthew nodded, gesturing to his torn clothes and shrugging in response.

"Guess Mattie was too tough for him. Thing didn't even leave a scratch. Like me and those…what'd Ivan call them?" Alfred said, looking to his twin and Francis for help filling in with names.

"Rusalka. But Ludwig called them nixie." Francis said, Gilbert and Roderich looking to one another in disbelief at hearing such a thing. They obviously knew what the others were talking about but found that to be just another thing to get panicked over, inching away from the water more. It would seem like there was plenty for them to discuss, and not much spare time to do it in.


	8. Chapter 8

Romano felt his head start to drift toward the taller Spanish man's shoulder as he listened to the music, the pile of tomatoes the specters had begun offering to try and keep them from any more escape attempts looking more and more appealing. The Italian was hungry and although Antonio was continuously prodding him to stay awake and shooting him warning looks to not touch the deliciously tempting food, it was becoming harder to keep himself under control. He didn't even know how it was possible for these things to keep producing more of the plant that wasn't exactly expected to be found in a forest like this, but figured that thinking too much on it would only make his head feel heavier. The specters weren't German and perhaps they could therefore conjure up foods their native lands would have plentiful, or since they would typically offer fruits to those they'd captured, Romano supposed that making these tomatoes would fall into that category too.

Antonio prodded him again, but Romano was too sleepy from the ethereal music to motion for the man to stop, prompting the Spaniard to poke him much harder than the last time as he jabbed him in the side. Romano jerked upright, shooting a glare over to the other man. Antonio looked equally sleepy, but it seemed his desire to keep the one next to him safe was spurring him to fight longer. He returned Romano's glare with a look both apologetic and yet pleased that Romano was more awake than before, sighing when the specters started up yet another song and a couple of girls came forward with more tomatoes to place in Romano's hands. The Spaniard watched worriedly as Romano took the fruit as instructed, his mouth watering as he let himself bring the tomato up to give it a sniff. Antonio waited until the girls had rejoined the others in dancing before grabbing the food away from Romano, finding it difficult to keep his composure at the look Romano gave him.

Antonio promised himself he'd take Romano to get as many tomatoes as he wished once they were out of this strange land, the longing the other had in his eyes to eat just one of them hard to watch. He knew there were few things that Romano would make obvious his delight in, one of which was enjoying his favorite food with others and it seemed these specters were counting on both their captives' preference for the food to draw them in even more. Romano practically pouted, making Antonio have to restrain himself from just pulling the other closer to him with how cute he thought the other was making himself.

The Spaniard was desperately trying to come up with some way of escape if their ghostly hosts weren't satisfied soon, wishing he could make his axe appear as easily as it seemed Ivan did with his pipe. The tomatoes were only going to put Romano and him to sleep faster, or do worse if the specters had something else in mind, and Antonio could sense they were running out of endurance. Just as he was contemplating taking one of the tomatoes to toss at one of the specters to provide Romano with a chance at escaping and bringing back help, a familiar yell sounded off to their right and Ivan, Ludwig and Feliciano emerged into their makeshift theater, spurring Antonio into grabbing a sleepy Romano up from his seat and backwards as a large snake followed after the other three men.

While the other three seemed to have taken notice of the other two men, they were clearly more concerned with the giant snake that was following them; and so were the Donas de fuera as they realized their performance had been interrupted and were not pleased. Their softer glow and pretty appearances quickly shifted to a darker countenance as they launched themselves at the snake, the reptile easily swallowing whole the first two that had attacked. But the sudden intrusion snapped Romano out of his trance, gasping as he spotted his younger brother who had unlatched himself from his German friend's side as was now running around screaming.

"Romano, get to your brother. I'll see if I can…" Antonio said, his words cut off as the snake's tail ended up tossing one of the remaining specters into him and causing both to tumble away. The Italian reached out for him as though to follow, but was blocked as more of the snake's coiling body landed near him as it twisted about in search of its prey while fighting more adversaries. He panted as he scurried away, seeing the creature spy him and abandon its dealings with Ludwig to dart after him. He shouted as he dodged out of the way, ducking as the specter with the guitar leaped at him with a snarl. He landed on the snake, the creature hissing at he managed to get in a few hits before having to dodge himself.

Romano watched only briefly before spotting his brother shaking in fear as he'd been tackled by one of the specters that was now an aydon looking for some payback. He quickly ran to his brother, knocking into the creature and wrestling with it himself, grasping about in the dirt to find something to defend himself with and managing to grab a hold of a rock. He bashed it into the side of the thing's head as hard as he could, not sure he could actually kill the thing with a rock but certain he could get away if he got it to let go of him. The aydon grunted from the impact, releasing Romano to get up and scurry over to where Feliciano was looking around desperately for some sort of weapon of his own, presumably to come to Romano's aid.

"What the hell do you think you ae doing just standing around like an idiot? Damn it, move it Feli!" Romano screamed to him, grabbing his younger brother's hand and leading the way toward where he hoped there would be cover. He could see Ivan riding the snake again as he hit it repeatedly over the head with no seeming affect anymore other than to make the snake mad.

"Oh! Fratello, the tomatoes!" Feliciano shouted, pointing to the mound that had been created by the specters when they weren't the bloodthirsty creatures they currently were as they fought the giant snake. Romano looked at his brother as though the other had legitimately been frightened out of his mind. "We can hide in the tomatoes! It's a good plan! I've done it before!" Feliciano continued, dragging his brother over to the pile, big enough for them to stack up and use as cover.

"And the damn potato-bastard found you anyway, didn't he?" Romano said, pleading with his brother to see reason. "This isn't going to work. We need to get out of here before the snake takes a bite out of us." He said, but Feliciano had already started enthusiastically building his tomato fort. Growling in irritation, Romano came to assist his brother anyway, not entirely sure what other plan he would have come up with anyway. Soon enough, the two of them were surrounded by the tomatoes and the remaining two aydons were completely oblivious to them as they huddled in the pile. The snake gave a violent shake and Ivan went sailing off to land on one of the bushes head-first, feet still kicking as he struggled to get free.

This left Ludwig to deal with the snake on his own, the German man obviously fatigued but still holding his ground as he continued to resort to using whatever he could get his hands on to use as a weapon against the snake. He ducked as the one of the remaining aydons lunged again at the snake, taking its attention off of Ludwig and giving him a chance to escape the coils that had begun to encircle him tightly. He attempted to grab its tail again like the first time he'd wrestled with it, but the writhing of the snake as it dealt with the specter that had begun to tear at its scales while the one that had been with Antonio returned to attack it as well, knocked over a tree and ended all efforts to immediately end that fight as Ludwig was now blocked between the fallen tree and the one he had been standing beside.

The Italy brothers clung to one another as the tree fell next to them, squashing some of their tomatoes and spraying them in tomato juice and skins as it pulverized that section of their fort. They fearfully took off into the cover of the forest, turning back around once they found their next hiding place to watch the snake gobble down the last of the specters. They winced as they realized the snake no longer had any distractions and began to panic as it seemed to lock onto where the two were hiding.

Feliciano turned to bury his face in his brother's chest as Romano covered his brother with his body, both whimpering but the older Italian peaked one eye open when the snake didn't immediately attack. He watched in confusion as the snake seemed to gag repeatedly before its eyes rolled back and it dropped forward, its head landing right in front of where the two brothers stood. He blinked at the turn of events as he realized the gigantic snake had chocked to death by swallowing the still struggling specters that were now trapped inside it and had killed it from within. Feliciano also peaked from behind his brother's arms, seeing the snake at the ground before looking up with relief in his eyes to his older brother. Romano and he shared a breathless laugh before the two of them sagged against one another, covered in tomato juice, landing in a heap as they fainted.

"Italy!" Ludwig shouted, doing his best to climb out from where the trees had trapped him between the two of them. He grunted with the effort as he pulled himself over the fallen tree's thick trunk. "Feliciano!" He called out again in a more concerned tone when nothing but silence reached him. He reached out for another hold, finding someone pulling his hand. "Feliciano?" He asked, but knew that the Italian's grip was never that firm, his suspicions confirmed when he was met with Ivan's face instead of the northern Italian.

"Lovi? Feli?" Antonio was also calling out, stumbling over to them. "Amigos, what happened? Where are the Italys?" He asked, running a hand through his hair as he looked about. "I was talking with Romano and then something hit me and…I remember wrestling with it to get it off me but I…I must've been hit on the head. Where are they?" The Spaniard asked, looking around in a stunned sort of state at the large snake that lay on the ground.

"We do not know." Ivan said, rubbing his back from the way he'd ended up landing. "Ouch. Was hard snake to kill. Must be sure it is dead though." He said with a smirk, pulling out his pipe that looked like he might need to do something about as it was dented in some areas – although the others never really knew just how the pipe never remained that way as though it really was a 'magic metal pipe' like the Russian said. He walked over to where the head was, intending to prod it and probably smack it once more for good measure. Ludwig finished climbing down with Antonio's help, watching as Ivan raised his pipe to strike but then hesitated.

"Oh dear. It is looking like we might have been too slow this time." Ivan said, looking back over to where the other two stood as he pointed with his pipe. Ludwig and Antonio made their way over to where Ivan stood, immediately spotting the red-soaked Italians still clinging to one another. Ludwig blinked rapidly at the sight, looking over to gauge Ivan's reaction but found the Russian looking his usual self except for the smile. Antonio however, continued forward to kneel next to the two of them, his eyes watering already.

"Italy?" He called out, reaching out to shake both brother's shoulders. "Feli, Lovi…wake up. Por favor…lo siento I was not there…wake up." He pleaded, Ludwig overcoming his own shock to brush past where Ivan stood to kneel next to Feliciano.

"Italy?" Ludwig said, trying to pry apart the grip the two Italians had on each other in their unconscious state. Antonio did the same with Romano, the two succeeding in getting the brothers disentangled from one another.

"Por favor, mi tomate, por favor…" Antonio continued to say, cradling Romano to him and looking over to Ludwig as he checked over Feliciano. "Say something…" He said, running his hands through the southern Italian's hair, mindful of the curl although he was considering pulling it for any response.

"Tomatoes…" Romano grumbled from where the Spanish man had pressed his face against his chest. "You….you owe me real tomatoes bastard." He said again, Antonio gasping and pulling away to gaze in relief and joy at the scowl Romano sent him.

"Gracias a Dios. Oh Lovi! This means Feli's alright!" Antonio said, Romano frowning at the quick switch to concern over his brother, although the Spanish man once again crushed him in a tight hug and rocked with him in his happiness. "Thank goodness you are not dead. I thought I hadn't saved you this time. But my little henchman knows boss is always strong." He said, smile impossibly wide as he snuggled with the now struggling Lovino.

"You didn't save me or Feli! The damned thing chocked to death on all the Donas de fuera it ate." Romano grumbled, trying to turn his head away and out of reach of the kisses the Spanish man was planting repeatedly on his cheek. "Stop crushing me." He grouched, but Antonio wasn't listening, too happy to be hugging the southern Italian.

"Mmmm…..pasta….."Feliciano said as he too woke up, stretching pleasantly as he did so as if completely forgetting what had just happened. "Oh, ciao Ludwig. Did I forget to….ahhh! The Biscione!" Feliciano said, screaming and squirming back and out of Ludwig's hold once he spotted the dead snake's head so close to his feet.

"Is dead now. Maybe make many bags or shoes with skin, da?" Ivan said, the others not sure if he was attempting to make a joke but the Russian man seemed to have amused himself so they gave halfhearted chuckles as well. "We should be going now. Maybe see if we can find explanation as to where we are?" Ivan said with a pointed look to Ludwig, the German man internally wincing as he'd forgotten that Ivan had wandered off before there was any sort of understanding of what was going on and was obviously keen on getting answers fast.

"Biscione? You mean that stupid snake on those crests?" Romano said, sitting in Antonio's lap with arms crossed as he'd clearly given up attempting to wrestle out of the Spaniard's hold. He could always resort to head-butting him, but the other man was helping get the tomato bits off of him and the southern Italian was too lazy to get worked up over it again. "What was it doing going after you then? Shouldn't it _like_ you? Why'd it want to eat the potato-bastard too? You know, other than the fact that he reeks of beer?" He asked, Ludwig shooting an unamused look to the Italian, Romano more comfortable with his boldness apparently with Antonio beside him.

Feliciano shrugged as he looked again at the snake. "I don't know. Maybe because it was used…um…" Feliciano said, swallowing around a lump in his throat. "The Duchy of Milan used it too." He said, avoiding the awkwardness that came about for him whenever he'd bring up Holy Roman Empire around Ludwig, even if the other man didn't understand what his anxiety was about. "B-But, I still don't-a understand what's going on….Germany!" Feliciano said, turning to his friend with a pleasing expression on his face.

"Well, the important thing is that you both are alright. Dios mio, we were so worried when we found you like that." Antonio said, crushing Lovino to him again in a hug that Feliciano was copying as he clung to Ludwig.

"Da. But we should be continuing looking for the others." Ivan said, pipe no longer in his hand as he poked at the snake with his foot, looking back up with smile back on his face.

"And how would we do that?" Antonio asked, finally freeing Romano from his grip so that the southern Italian was able to get to his feet and promptly start berating Ludwig to let go of his brother despite it being the northern Italian doing the clinging.

Ivan turned to face the Spaniard, pointing in the direction of the broken trees and disturbed ground that was the result of the snake following after them. "We follow trail of devastation back. Always interesting what you find on the other end, but I am thinking we can follow path to where Ludwig last left a mark on the tree, if the tree is still upright." He said, Ludwig nodding along with the slightly worrisome plan. "But if not, it is nice day out for a walk." Ivan continued, looking up at the cloudy sky.

"Nice day for a walk? Are you kidding?" Lovino grumbled, wiping his face once more to get rid of as much tomato juice as he could since it seemed he ended up getting splashed with the majority of it rather than his luckier younger brother.

"Da. It could be blizzard. Harder to fight monsters in snowstorm." Ivan said cheerily, tilting his head to the side as if enjoying some hidden joke as he looked over to Ludwig. "I will lead." He said, not waiting for the others to respond, climbing over fallen branches back down the path to where they first encountered the giant snake. The others looked at one another briefly before following after the seemingly unfazed Russian man as Ivan continued his trek as if it was just a simple stroll through a garden rather than a monster-infested forest.

"So, I am thinking…" Antonio began, breaking the silence that both Romano and Ludwig thought unlikely to have with Feliciano around, "…Amigos, even though we have no idea how what got wherever here is, I have another question." He said, Ludwig sighing as he felt the Spaniard inevitably directing the conversation toward him. "So far there have been the Donas de fueras, the señoras blancas, and now that large snake…" He began, his face taking on a thoughtful expression.

"Si. The Biscione is supposed to be large, but its bite isn't venomous." Feliciano said as he trudged behind Ludwig, reaching out a hand to grasp onto the man's back as he lost his footing and needed him to steady himself to avoid tripping yet again.

"Yeah, great. It'll swallow you whole but don't-a worry. If it happens to just bite your limbs off, there won't be any poison." Lovino grouched to Feliciano, the younger just shrugging in response in an attempt to keep his brother from getting too upset.

"Silver lining, da?" Ivan said with a chuckle as he looked to Romano, the other man giving a shaky laugh and nod in nervousness.

"Well…two out of the three are not exactly German-made creatures, are they? At least, not entirely." Antonio said, getting back to his point. Ludwig nodded in understanding, picking up on the train of the thought the Spanish man had created.

"Do not forget rusalka. Are Russian creatures." Ivan interjected once more, Ludwig fighting back the urge to automatically respond with what he considered the correct term.

"Right…" Ludwig said with restraint, taking a deep breath to compose himself. "Perhaps it is because there are connections between these creatures with the ones related to my own lands. The…rusalka…are like the nixie. The Donas de fueras aren't all that dissimilar to the concept of the Weisse Frauen which are found in many other lands…" Ludwig continued, trying to find a plausible answer even though such an analytical approach conflicted with the fact that kept repeating in his mind that they were talking about mythological creatures and magical transportation and possibly realms. "It may be that because you were all present when the…spell…was done or as it began to work while we slept off all the beers….these creatures are appearing based on whether or not there is a counterpart on your own lands or possibly just because of your connection historically or geographically with my lands…I don't know." Ludwig said, growing frustrated at nothing making sense. Despite that, Feliciano had clearly been hanging on every word his friend said, a departure from the usual distant gaze he received whenever he attempted any form of training with the smaller man.

"Well, not much else is making sense." Antonio said with a shrug, taking a moment to pause in his walking. He wasn't minding the idea of a siesta sometime soon considering he'd been just as affected by the spectral music as Lovnio but had been more concerned about keeping the other man awake. The typically carefree man gave a heavy sigh, about to rejoin the group when he thought he heard the neighing of a horse. With his curiosity piqued and therefore distracted from the input the younger Italian was provided towards Ludwig's theory, Antonio took a few steps off their 'path' to follow the sound. He listened for the horse again, hearing it seem to come not only farther away but in a different direction. He made a face in confusion before not bothering to follow it further in favor of getting back to their group.

Turning around, he made to head back when he heard it again coming from where he thought he'd first heard the sound and deciding to take just one more minute to see if he could spot the horse. It would make things so much easier if they could have a little equestrian assistance and he was eager to come across something helpful rather than more creatures. However, as he pushed back more shrubbery to keep looking, he was met not with the sight of a horse but of a strange-looking cottage in the middle of the woods. He took a moment to stare at it, wondering if it was really bones making up the fence and if so, should he bother approaching for any possible assistance. He came to the decision that it was better than wandering aimlessly and began to stride forward to the door. He had just reached the fence, hand outstretched to swing open the gate when he was quickly pulled back by an icy grip. Wide-eyed and shivering a little, Antonio spun around to face his assailant and was met with the sight of a worried-looking Ivan with a finger to his lips to signal Antonio to be quiet. Unfortunately, neither Italian brother seemed capable of silence for very long, Feliciano trembling at the sight of the cottage while Lovino glared at Antonio.

"Oi! Bastard! What the hell did you think you were doing going off on your own and making us worry?" Lovino barked out, only realizing what he'd said after the words left his mouth. "I mean, worry about if there was something else we had to run from? Ch-Chigi…And what is this-a supposed to be?" he asked, motioning to the cottage.

"You never heard about _any_ of the fairytales from my lands?" Ludwig said harshly to the southern Italian, causing Romano to blush a little more than what he had been doing before. "Shut-up before whatever witch is in there hears us." He said, grabbing Feliciano's arm to pull him away and gesturing for the others to do the same. But the damage had been done and the door swung open, a haggard-looking woman with long hair stepping forward and coming toward them, using an exaggerated walking stick too thick and too tall to actually be called a walking stick.

The hold Ludwig had on Feliciano was the only thing it seemed that stopped the Italian from taking flight again, much the same way Antonio was blocking Romano's escape route; not that the older brother hadn't tried, only to end up smacking into the Spanish man's chest and having him wrap an arm around his shoulder. Ludwig swallowed thickly as the woman approached, the fence appearing to actually jitter about in the ground as she moved closer. He prepared to speak but instead of managing to say anything, he found himself beaten yet again as Lovino attempted to recover whatever façade of bravado he'd been giving earlier. The man opened his mouth, getting out not much more than 'oi, ha-' as he'd made to call the woman a hag. His foot was quickly stepped on by Ivan who smiled to the old lady and gave a short bow before addressing her.

"Добрый день бабa." Ivan said, the woman looking at him sternly before giving a nod to the Russian man. "Бабa, we are passing by and thought it would be polite to exchange greetings with you." He said with a smile, the words pleasing the old woman.

"If you will call me grandmother for the rest of your visit, you will be rewarded." She said, Ivan nodding again at her, hands folded in front of him in a gesture of deferring to her seniority. "What is it that you are looking for?" She asked, not bothering to look at anyone but Ivan. The Russian made to answer but the woman turned, motioning for Ivan to follow as the gate magically swung open. Ivan shot a brief glance to the others with a clear indication that he was expecting them to wait for him before following after the woman inside her cottage, the others not daring to take a breath until the door magically shut on its own too.

"Should we be worried?" Feliciano asked to Ludwig, the blonde man blinking in confusion at what had just happened before merely giving a little shrug. "Ve~. We should sit down and relax until he gets back. It's too bad we don't have any pasta for me to make in the meantime." He said with a sad sigh, Lovino dropping onto the ground beside him with a grumble to keep quiet about food since he hadn't spent hours with food being tempted right under his nose. Antonio and Ludwig joined the two on the ground, leaning up against the back of one of the trees.

After a little while, the door slammed open again and Ivan walked out of the cottage completely unharmed, smile still in place. "Большое спасибо бабa." He said, walking around to the back of the cottage and returning with three horses, one red, one white, and the other black. "Ah, до свидания бабa." He said, mounting one and leading the other three through the gate and over to his friends as the old woman remained standing in the doorway, looking as displeased as she did when she first appeared. She raised her hand in farewell before her door slammed shut again. "My friends, I knew you would still be waiting. I am having such gladness at seeing you again." Ivan said as Ludwig got to his feet, shaking awake the Italy brothers to help him grab ahold of the horses. "But we had better be leaving before her house decides to get up and walk away." The Russian man continued, Ludwig looking at him in confusion before shaking his head and mounting the black horse.

"Tomato-bastard, wake up!" Romano said, shoving the sleeping Antonio so that he fell to his side, now wide awake. "We've got transportation. Let's go." He said, Antonio yawning but quickly getting up.

"Who is riding with whom?" Antonio asked, although he was looking pleading at both Italy brothers. Feliciano was asking his brother to ride with him, but it seemed that Romano wasn't too keen on the idea, complaining about how many times they would have to stop when Feliciano would become distracted and fall off their horse – he also said the red horse was giving him a funny look anyway and didn't want to get on it. Antonio chuckled and easily mounted the red mare, holding out a hand for Feliciano to take.

"Oh no! I'm-a not riding with the potato-bastard." Lovino said, brushing past his brother to grab Antonio's hand and sit behind him. Feliciano pouted at not getting to ride the red horse, looking ready to start arguing with his brother.

"You two can take turns. Get on with me or Ivan now Feliciano." Ludwig barked out, his commanding tone spurring Feliciano to jump onto the black horse with the German man without aid or further prompting. Ludwig grunted from the impact of having the other man slam into his back, the horse also giving a whine in protest and stomping the ground a few times before Ludwig calmed it down.

"How did you manage to get away without injury? And with such pretty horses too?" Feliciano asked once they were moving away from the house and the witch. Ivan was leading the way again atop the white horse, looking more relaxed than before.

"It is Baba Yaga. That was her pestle she was carrying when she flies around in her mortar." Ivan said nonchalantly. "If you are polite and don't refuse her hospitality, she is like any other woman living in a cottage with a fence of bones of those she didn't not like and cursed to eternally watch over her cottage." He said, turning to face the others with a smile on his face. "All you need to do is follow what she said and call her grandmother. I told her we needed to find a way home and she gave me these horses and directions to the others in exchange for a small matryoshka I had recently made with smiling faces and bright colors." He said with a bit of pride in his voice. "Was better option than letting her cook one of you, although, it did take me a while to make dolls. Will have to start all over now." He said, the others paling a little at the thought that Ivan might have considered letting the witch possibly scrutinize the group for a potential meal.

"Wait, you didn't ask about where the others were?" Ludwig asked once he found his voice. "What are we supposed to do about them?" He said, Ivan turning back around to face the others again.

"I forgot." He said with a shrug, not entirely convincing even though he had been delicately maneuvering in a deadly game with a potentially cannibalistic witch at the time. "But she told me to get home, we need to find the others and so she gave me directions to them. No problem." He said, Ludwig shaking his head yet again. "This makes two of my stories here. There are many old witches in the middle of woods in your stories. We are fortunate it was one I knew." He said, returning to sitting normally on the horse. Ludwig looked to the others, not sure what to say to that and reluctantly having to admit that they were lucky to have someone on their side who could be almost as creepy as the monsters they were facing.


	9. Chapter 9

Alfred was again trying to help cheer Peter up as he sat next to the micronation as the group decided to try and come up with some sort of plan. Arthur had explained in as much detail as he could what exactly was going on with Peter when they had first been reunited, not wanting to wait in case there was another surprise visit from the Elf King as they were talking. Peter had calmed down only slightly, at least able to properly talk and be understood by anyone other than Arthur when the little boy's British accent would become too thick for the others to understand.

"I'm tellin' ya kiddo, Artie's a meanie but this time, he's gonna be a terror to whatever it is that's after you." Alfred said, scooping Peter into his lap and ruffling his hair. "And, of course, nothing is gonna take you when the hero's here!" He said with a smile, Matthew shaking his head at Alfred's attempt to cheer up the little boy with more of the same encouragements.

"B-But…it's so h-horrible to look at. And it keeps following us and nobody else can see it and if nobody else can see it, how am I supposed to fight it off on my own?" Peter asked, clutching Alfred's shirt again. "I mean, I…I'm going to be big and strong one day but I'm still small-ish right now." He said, earning a chuckle from Alfred.

"Well, it can't be as horrible as having to walk through a garden of naked statues." Alfred teased, Peter looking up at him questioningly. "Yeah, Mattie and Francis didn't seem to notice that all the statues were, you know, in their birthday suits only." He said, further confusing the boy.

"What is he talking about?" Roderich asked tiredly to Francis, having had enough of trying to deal with Gilbert's 'awesome strategizing' that was getting louder and louder as he argued with Arthur over their next course of action.

"Oui. After Alfred killed the loup-garou, he told us he was able to create a silver bullet from a silver coin he'd found in a grotto with statues. He…hon hon hon…did not enjoy them as much as I did." Francis said with a smirk, Arthur rolling his eyes as he understood exactly what the other was implying.

"You and your issue with nakedness." Arthur said with a chuckle and small shake of his head as he delighted in teasing the American, unintentionally joining up with Francis as he did so.

"What? You...You… _You're_ the one that taught me….oh, just shut up." Alfred said, face turning red again at being laughed at for his sense of morals. "Freaky Europeans. See if I come and help you if there's anything else comin' for ya." He muttered, although he was pleased that Peter seemed to have momentarily forgotten his terror and gave a small laugh at Alfred's expense as well.

"Wait, that sounds vaguely familiar…" Roderich said, hand coming to his chin in thought as he tried to recall what was at the tip of his tongue. "If we're going off of Germanic stories…" He began, Gilbert nodding in agreement and interrupting.

"Yeah, we saw…I swear it was not the beer talking, but we definitely saw a nosferatu." He said with a smirk, Arthur glaring at him in an obvious attempt to not bring that up. He shot a side look to Peter, but he was ignoring him in favor of saying something to Matthew to further tease Alfred.

"It's Italian? I thought you said…" Alfred said, tilting his head in confusion and deflating Arthur's earlier ire toward the albino man.

"No, you dimwit. Nosferatu. A vampire." Arthur said in his lecturing tone. Alfred looked ready to argue with that, no doubt to offer the same statement that it was daytime as when he'd argued against the presence of a werewolf. "It was hiding out under an old covered bridge we crossed. You'd think it was a troll or something." He said dismissively as though that was an everyday thing for him.

"Whatever dude." Alfred said, tone disbelieving. "Nosferatu ain't German…or Prussian…is it?" He asked in confusion, making a valid point.

"No, but…it was a German filmmaker who made the silent movie." Gilbert said a little proudly, Alfred taking a moment before giving an 'oh, yeah' as he then returned to focusing on what Peter was doing as he recounted his experience with the creature to a patiently listening Matthew.

"Only because he basically plagiarized it from one of my citizens." Arthur said, crossing his arms and scowling at the Prussian man as Gilbert only shrugged and laughed obnoxiously in the other's face. His assurances that it didn't count as plagiarism because it was just plainly awesome for its time weren't appeasing the other man, Arthur looking ready to start trying to smack the man over the head.

"Then why didn't it want to go after you mon ami? If it was _your_ monster." Francis said sarcastically. "Next time, you may just…slip…off that bridge and then there really will be a troll under it." He said, that being all the prompting Arthur needed to start scuffling with the Frenchman.

"Guys, seriously?" Matthew said calmly but disbelievingly as the two were unable to keep from resorting to their typical behavior. "We don't have time for this, eh. Alfred…" The Canadian said, looking to his twin for some backup.

"Oh! I have it!" Roderich exclaimed with a look of satisfaction on his face. Gilbert snorted and looked back to him, a smirk already on his face.

"What? A stick up your butt?" He teased, Roderich shooting him an unamused look. But the Austrian man chose not to respond to his fellow Germanic personification and instead faced the others.

"This is familiar to me and one of my stories." Roderich began, Gilbert chuckling and muttering something along the lines of 'this ought to be good' as he settled himself down on one of the rocks. Roderich again glared at him but the Prussian man made a motion with his hand as though giving permission for the other to continue with what he had to say. "It's a play. 'The Diamond of the Spirit King'." He said, looking to see if any of the others recognized it but sighed when it seemed the others didn't. "Anyway, it involves magical statues. A magician inherits six and to have a chance at ultimate power, he needs to obtain a seventh from an elf or goblin-like creature. It was supposed to be made of rose-colored diamond but in the story the hero gives it up in favor of an English woman he falls in love with…" He said with a shrug, Arthur giving a short chuckle at that.

"Okay…" Alfred said, still looking confused. "I love story-time, but what was point of that?" He asks, Roderich groaning in frustration and muttering how he wished he had some musical instrument on him to deal with all the others.

"It means Alfred, that if you found that collection of statues, we might be able to use them." Arthur said, picking up on the Austrian man's idea, Roderich making a face at someone finally getting what he was talking about.

"Fine, fine…but the last one's broken and I'm pretty sure it's marble but if you wanna….whoa! What the hell is that thing?!" Alfred said, breaking off to shout at something he'd spotted and abruptly standing with Peter in his arms to back away from the edge of the forest.

Peter looked and gasped before glancing up at Alfred's face. "You see it too?" He asked in both terror and relief that someone else had seen what had previously been his own personal monster.

"Yes I see it! How could I _not_ see it?" He asked, Peter clinging to him more. "Oh, where'd it go?" He said, spinning around as it seemed he'd lost sight of whatever monster had just been in his line of vision.

"How can you see it? It's only supposed to go after…children…" Gilbert said, eyes widening at the thought. "Of course…" He said with a sigh, shaking his head.

"Al, there's nothing there." Matthew said in an attempt to calm his brother. "Look, I'm looking too but there's nothing over here." He said, walking a little closer to see if he could spot anything.

"No, Matt, don't!" Alfred said, Matthew turning around to look at Alfred. In that moment, both Alfred's and Peter's eyes widened as the Elf King showed up again next to Matthew, the Canadian furrowing his brows in confusion before he felt something grip his arm. The next thing he knew, he was being pulled backwards and off his feet yet again, glimpsing what looked like a walking tree with a face. He heard his name being exclaimed by the others, snapping him back into reality to try and free himself from wherever it was he being taken to by the creature. He managed to grab ahold of a tree root as the creature began to drag him down into a hole, his grip beginning to slip as the creature fought to get his prize. He shouted as he felt the tree root starting to snap, clenching his eyes shut as he felt a coldness begin to seep up from his arm at the point of contact with the creature.

"I've got you Matthew!" He heard Arthur's voice exclaim, the British man's hands grabbing onto him and pulling him back. The Canadian felt like he could've cried in relief, clinging as best he could with his free hand to Arthur's arms and then proceeding to kick the creature in the face to get it to release him. The Elf King growled but upon seeing that Arthur was there, he looked as though he just dissolved and his grip disappeared. Matthew stared in fear at the spot where the creature had been, the glow of its yellow eyes lingering longer in the shadows so that he knew instinctually that the thing hadn't been taken care of yet.

"Matthew! Lad, I can't do it alone. Come on." Arthur said, voice strained from holding onto the northern North American twin. Matthew swallowed thickly at that, the two of them working to get him completely out of the hole. Once he was safely out and the two had backed up from the hole, Matthew clung to Arthur in a way he hadn't done since he was physically a little boy. Arthur patted his back, wordlessly urging him to get back to their feet and head back to the others. Once back in the area beside the stream, Matthew was treated to the sight of Gilbert, Francis and Roderich essentially hanging off of Alfred as they attempted to make the American's efforts to immediately rush off on his own as difficult as possible. Alfred tried to shake them off but Francis' position in front of Alfred to push him back with Peter still in his arms was the only thing giving Alfred any hesitancy in case he did something so unheroic as accidentally hurting Peter with unrestrained strength.

"Get off me! I gotta go do the rescuin' thing." Alfred was saying, his words muffled from where Francis had his shoulder pressed more or less against Alfred's face as he attempted to keep his footing and his hold on Peter. "Dirty trick usin' Peter too. Come on!" Alfred said, Roderich looking as though he really wasn't able to let go with how much Alfred was flailing.

"Nein. Moron, that thing's after you and Peter too. You won't be much help." Gilbert said, looking up in time to spot Arthur and Matthew returning. "There. Now shut up and listen to the awesome me." He said, the others following his lead and releasing Alfred.

"Mattie!" Alfred said, rushing to his twin and quickly engulfing him in a tight hug. Matthew gave a small smile at his twin being so concerned, patting Alfred on the back to let him know he needed to be released to be able to properly breathe again. Releasing Matthew, Alfred promptly pulled Arthur into a bone-crushing hug as well. "Way to go old man!" He said, Arthur too busy trying to gasp for air to respond to that.

"As much fun as it is to see him make that face, you should let go now Amerique." Francis said with a chuckle, Arthur struggling to be released from his former colony's overly enthusiastic affection. Alfred seemed to notice what Francis was talking about, sheepishly easing up on his grip and allowing Arthur to loudly gasp for air.

"Git! What did you expect?!" Arthur said once he'd recovered, face still flushed from most likely a mixture of irritation and embarrassment. "I've told you not to do that! Hugs aren't necessary and clearly are your ill-disguised method of trying to kill me." He grouched, pushing Alfred away from him, the other man pouting at the apparent refusal to be close. Francis scoffed at that though, mock-whispering to Peter that his older brother had issues with understanding his emotions.

"If this is all over, could we get to those statues?" Roderich asked as he finished straightening out his clothes and adjusting his glasses, attempting to get them all back on track. Francis cleared his throat to get Arthur's attention off of Alfred as he handed Peter back to him.

"I don't get it." Alfred said as they headed back toward the grotto. Arthur smirked at that, looking to the American and rolling his eyes.

"You'll have to be specific Alfred. There are many things you apparently don't 'get'." Arthur said, Alfred not hearing the underlying insult. The American just shrugged as he led the group to the waterfall that they'd passed through to indicate the grotto.

"Well, if it's goin' after kids, why'd it take Mattie? How come I can see it?" Alfred asked as they entered, Roderich beginning to inspect the statues while Francis provided his own commentary to the Austrian man. "And another thing. If they're all German stories, why's this one focused on you? Or…Or…how come this creature hurt Mattie when the werewolf didn't leave a mark on him?" Alfred began to ramble, taking on his signature stance of taking charge to get to the bottom of things.

"Or you eh" Matthew said, fending off what was sure to be one of Alfred's usual plans once he got going. "I saw it hit you too when it first attacked. You weren't actually clawed either even though your shirt's ripped a little too. Nor when you were saving Ivan." Matthew said, Alfred apparently just noticing his lack of injuries.

"Ah, well, that's 'cuz I'm the indestructible hero!" Alfred said, Arthur groaning in response to that. "I mean, it takes a lot to leave a mark on me. How else would I be able to get to savin' everybody? Bullets need to bounce off me."

"Alfred, bullets do not 'bounce' off you." Arthur said in exasperation. "I've seen them hit the mark. Granted they don't do the same damage as if it was someone else when you're all riled up - unless they are incredibly close or hit you in just the right way- but you _do_ still bleed." He said, slightly deflating the American's posture but it was quickly replaced as Alfred beamed at him.

"Exactly. I'm too tough to be easily knocked down. The hero has to just be that awesome." Alfred said, not letting anything Arthur said to him affect his attitude.

"I invented awesome!" Gilbert shouted out at hearing someone else try to describe themselves as awesome. He was over by the broken statue with Francis, attempting to right it back onto its pedestal while Roderich 'supervised' their efforts.

"Now he's sounding like a certain Korean we know." Arthur said to Alfred, the American giving a small chuckle at the British man's humor and walking over to his twin, missing the way Arthur smiled at being able to play around with Alfred. It was quickly gone, however, once Arthur caught himself so blatantly smiling.

"Alright Arthur. I believe it will be up to you now. You're the one who cast whatever that spell was." Roderich said once the statue was back on its pedestal, its slightly more pinkish color more obvious once it was upright. Arthur nodded and headed over to inspect the statues, an action Alfred was clearly doing his best to avoid in favor of looking over his twin's arm despite Matthew's insistence that he could more than handle a little cold. The British man slowly walked by each statue, not feeling any sort of magic coming from them and frowning in response. He walked back over to the rose-hued statue, noticing that there was something by its feet and bending down to get a closer look at the pedestal.

"Are you going to take all day? Come on already and do something." Gilbert whined as he stood next to Roderich, folding his arms over his chest to imitate the Austrian man. Arthur scowled at them but merely took a deep breath to try again at figuring out if there was anything he could do.

"Hey dudes, look at what I found!" Alfred exclaimed excitedly, picking something up off of the floor and brushing it off. Holding it up, he whistled at discovering he was holding up a blue gemstone. "This looks like it's a sapphire." He said, the others coming over to look at it.

"Where did you find it?" Gilbert asked, interest piqued. "This trip might not be so bad if we get some awesome souvenirs to bring home." He said, looking to grab it out of Alfred's hands but the American was quick to pull back, the two resorting to a game of keep-away as one spouted 'finders'-keepers' while the other went on about how it was clearly an 'awesome Prussian blue'.

"Boys, if we could get back to the situation please?" Roderich said as though speaking to children. "Honestly, it's no wonder the Elf King isn't after you too Gilbert." He said, Alfred successfully keeping the stone away from Gilbert.

"Yeah, how come it's after me and Mattie too? Nobody ever gave me a straight answer for that one." Alfred said, Gilbert again trying to grab ahold of the stone while Alfred just laughed as he messed around with the older man.

"Possibly because you are very childish Alfred." Arthur said bluntly, receiving the expected protest of 'hey!' from the American. "Or perhaps because for whatever reason, maybe because Peter was with me at the time…whatever the reason, I appear to be playing the 'father' role from that poem and I _did_ take care of you two. Plus, both of you are legitimately younger than us nation-wise." Arthur said with a shrug, Matthew making an 'oh' face as he thought about that suggestion.

"Hah…you're more like a nagging mother if anything." Alfred teased, succeeding in making Arthur's face turn red. "But, who knows if this thing's cursed or something. You're supposed to be the expert on cursed stuff so here, catch!" Alfred said, Matthew automatically wincing at the phrase as Alfred tossed the stone. Arthur was pummeled in the shoulder with the sapphire, the gemstone bouncing to the ground as the British man stumbled.

"Bloody hell Alfred!" Arthur exclaimed, holding his shoulder and gasping as he tried to catch his breath. "Watch what you are doing, git! Were you trying to toss it to me, or imbed it in me?" Arthur grouched as he bent down to pick up the gem, Gilbert coming over to take a closer look now that it was Arthur playing keep-away with him.

"Hey, it's got a flower or something on it." Gilbert said, bringing to Arthur's attention the engraving on the front of it.

"So it does. I wonder…" Arthur mused to himself, walking over to the statue Alfred had been standing by to see if there was some sort of clue. Peering at its pedestal he saw a similar small indentation as the rose-hued statue's pedestal. Brushing out the dirt that had built up in it, he could see that there was something carved into the bottom but it was hard to tell with the limited light.

"Alfred, do you still have on you that…" Arthur turned around to face the American to ask for his old lighter he liked to keep on him for sentimental reasons. "What are you doing?" He asked with a tone that expressed how often he'd asked such a question as he watched the American bustling about around the entrance, tossing dirt this way and that as he dug. He watched as Alfred disappeared through the waterfall, looking to Matthew to see if the Canadian could answer what his twin was up to. Alfred shortly returned carrying a bunch of sizable branches, dropping them on the ground as he grabbed a couple of rocks, creating a makeshift knife as he worked the two with his flint-knapping skills. With one stick fashioned into a stake, Alfred jumped into the small ditch he'd made. "Alfred?" Arthur asked, a little more warily this time knowing what the other man was capable of.

"Makin' a trap. I ain't sittin' around waiting for old ugly to come get me." Alfred explained, continuing to work on his trap. "See, just when you think it's safe to slow down and talk about stuff in all the scary movies, that's when…bam!….The monster shows back up." He said, shoving another stake in the ground angled toward the waterfall.

"The kid has a point." Gilbert said, looking over the trap with a scrutinizing gaze. Arthur sighed but couldn't exactly disagree, even though it seemed like that creature, if what Matthew said to him was correct, didn't need to worry about that sort of thing.

"Just like staking a vampire, right Iggy?" Alfred said as Arthur walked over to where he was working on building his trap. "Can't survive a stake through the heart." He said, wiping his forehead and getting some dirt on him that Arthur had to resist the urge to point out to him to wipe off.

"Well who wouldn't that kill?" Roderich sarcastically asked as he watched Alfred, and now Gilbert, build their trap. Alfred paused as he considered that, making a 'huh' noise as he actually considered that before shrugging and finishing up. "Besides, you're supposed to stake them _to_ the ground so they can't rise back _up_." He continued, Alfred apparently no longer listening.

"Yes, anyway." Arthur said with an eye roll, Peter looking to be inspecting the trap for his own possible involvement in building it while Matthew did his best to persuade him to try and keep still. "Alfred, do you have your lighter?" He asked, Alfred thinking about it and fumbling through his pockets, pulling out his old lighter with a triumphant sound and handing it to Arthur with the proviso that he get it back.

Taking the lighter from Alfred, Arthur headed back over to the statue to be able to determine for certain what the engraving was on its pedestal. Flicking it on, Arthur determined that although not the same carving as what was on the gemstone, there was another flower. "I think I've figured it out. Matthew, Peter, help me look for any more of these stones. We need to match them up with the proper pedestals to get any sort of reaction." He said, Peter complaining about being bossed around while Matthew just nodded along in the hopes of cooperation to be able to get home sooner.

It took a while for them to eventually find all the stones and match them up, long enough for Alfred to start complaining loudly about being hungry and spurring Peter and Gilbert into similar complaints. Roderich had joined in to help with their search too, doing anything to keep from arguing with Gilbert and his incessant teases toward him and putting up with Francis' chatter.

"Arthur, we've searched the whole grounds of this grotto. There are no more stones for the rose statue." Roderich complained, sitting down beside the small well of water that backtracked into the cave from the waterfall, confident that it wasn't enough for there to be anything waiting to pounce within its depths.

"Well, perhaps if we just use the correct flower." Matthew suggested timidly. "It's better than nothing, eh?" He asked when Arthur didn't seem overly enthused with the plan.

"I suppose since all the other pedestals have their gems and this one, admittedly, doesn't seem to have the same kind of indentation for a gem…" Arthur began, only to have Francis wholeheartedly agree with Matthew's idea.

"Maybe if we had a fresh flower it would work. Something to act as a conductor for the magic." Arthur said, beginning to ramble to himself as he thought aloud, Alfred shouting over to him to 'quit the mumbo-jumbo already'.

"But we hardly have the option of wandering around looking for flowers." Roderich said, sounding like it was as believable a suggestion as the fact they were stuck being hunted by fairytale creatures and monsters.

"Non. Voila." Francis said, handing a rose with a smirk and a flourish to Arthur. The British man glared back at him as he took the offered flower, not bothering to ask where it came from or how it was that the Frenchman always had one on him at all times. _For all I know, this is the one he uses to cover himself_ ….Arthur began to think, shaking his head to get rid of such thoughts and beginning to think Alfred's blushing wasn't so humorously exclusive to the American.

Arthur inserted the flower into the little well for it on the rose-hued statue, hoping that the statue itself would be able to finish the job the other gemstones were doing since it was the only odd-one out among the plain gray-ish marble statues. "Alright. It's all yours now." Arthur said, looking to Roderich.

The Austrian man stuttered in surprise as he found the others gazing expectantly at him. "What? What do you expect me to do? I don't play around with these things." He said with a dismissive gesture to the room and the statutes. "You're the one who got us in this mess in the first place." He continued, Arthur crossing his arms.

"We can debate accountability at a later time." Arthur began, Alfred yet again interjecting with his own opinion that 'it was definitely you dude' that Gilbert chimed in on to add his own opinion on the other man reading his diaries. "But if we are going along with the stories, then you're the one who should be able to make whatever's supposed to happen occur." Arthur continued, Roderich tossing his hands up in the air in disbelief.

"But it was a _British_ woman who played a role in making the statues work or not, or something like that." Roderich said to support his case. "You should be the one to do it then. I don't remember all the details." He said, hands on his hips.

"It's _your_ bloody story. Think really hard." Arthur said sarcastically, Roderich huffing in annoyance as Gilbert groaned at the turn of events.

"I. Don't. Know." Roderich said slowly, running a hand through his hair. "I think it had something to do with having never told a lie before." He said, Alfred scoffing at that.

"Well then, don't use Iggy." He said, Arthur turning around to redirect his ire at the American. "What? Hey, everybody lies. Even heroes….sometimes…y'know white lies…if we're bein' honest right now." He said as he thought about fibbing to Kiku that time when he thought he really needed to hear something encouraging about making friends, rubbing the back of neck in a sheepish manner. But nobody in the room could legitimately argue they hadn't told at least a little white lie now and then.

"Well, maybe it'll work if someone who normally isn't even honest with himself is truly honest." Francis said, looking to Arthur as he went to stand beside Roderich. "You know. Tears are supposed to be very healing after all." He goaded the other man, Arthur looking ready to start throttling the man.

" _I_ do not _cry_." Arthur said, holding himself a little taller as he faced the Frenchman, the other giving a harsh laugh at that while Alfred chose to keep quiet.

"Then get your imaginary fairies to do it or get to being honest with yourself. We would all like to go home." Francis retorted, this time some actual harshness as he attempted to get the British man to understand that something needed to be done.

"Ugh….there haven't been any good ones for me to ask. Plenty of the others, but with the way the day's been going, I figured we were better off if I didn't acknowledge them." Arthur said with a glare, Francis throwing his arms up in the air in a gesture of defeat at having the same conversation again.

"Um…well…m-maybe if we all left the grotto for a minute? Give you some time to yourself, eh?" Matthew timidly suggested, hand on Peter's shoulder to keep the little boy from making any additional comments to further irritate Arthur.

"Dude, that man doesn't cry for just anything." Alfred said, climbing out of his trap to stand by the waterfall as he inspected it for any other possible strategical advantages he could come up with while they worked. " _Carry on_ and all that jazz." Alfred said, not bothering to look over his shoulder at the British man. "I mean, it would take something to really…" He began, slipping on the slick stones and falling through the waterfall. Peter snickered at that, Matthew shaking his head at his twin and waiting for him to eventually reemerge with his usual 'I meant to do that'.

"Alfred, come back in here." Roderich said impatiently when the American didn't outright return. "Ugh…I'll go get him. It's better than standing around in here." He said, heading back over and shuffling in the narrow space left available to move around the trap.

"Yeah, but so far there are no monsters in here." Gilbert said, Roderich shooting him an irritated look at the reminder. "Hey, go for it. Show some of that backbone you used to have." He said, Roderich huffing but crossing behind the waterfall and out the exit.

"Well, while Roderich soothes Alfred's ego, may we get back to the business of seeing what we can do here?" Francis asked sarcastically, motioning around the room with his hand. "As much as I enjoy male and female nudes, I would like to be moving things along." He said, Arthur huffing.

"There's not much more I can do here, frog. I believe I made that pretty clear." Arthur said, storming over to the Frenchman. "I doubt you could do any better." He said, poking the man in the chest.

Francis scoffed at that action, pushing the other man away from him. "At least I would be doing something. And I did provide you with that rose." He said, Arthur rolling his eyes. "One little tear. That's all we are asking. Do I have to beat it out of you?" He asked with a smirk.

"I'd like to see you try." Arthur said in a tone clearly indicating he was just itching for the other to take a swing at him. "And I'll hit you so hard those marks on your shoulders will look like 'love taps'." He threatened, Gilbert watching in amusement at the buildup to one of the two's more violent episodes.

"Maybe later, eh." Matthew interjected as he yet again played peacemaker. "You two can get back to killing one another once there's no other competition to beat you to it." He said with a bit of a snarky tone as his passive-aggressiveness came through. "I have been chased far too many times, attacked by a werewolf and kidnapped by an elf that dragged me down a hole and gave me first-degree frostbite on my arm. Could the two of you just get it together for a few minutes so we can try to get home? Or is it too much to ask for a little attempt at cooperation? We should just toss ourselves in Alfred's trap and wait for the thing to come and put us out of our misery if you can't suck it up!" Matthew rambled, Gilbert's eyes widening at one of the Canadian's rare public 'what for's' while Francis and Arthur began to look a little sheepish. Matthew huffed, opening his mouth to continue when a tug on his sleeve by Peter seemed to bring him back to the situation. "W-Well, you weren't listening. But…I…I think I made my point." Matthew said, back to his usual attitude as he tried to hold himself straighter with his head held a little higher.

"O-Oui…of course Mathieu." Francis said with a sheepish smile, Arthur clearing his throat and nodding along with the Frenchman.

"Alright then." Matthew said with a firm nod, Gilbert giving in to his giggles as Matthew flawlessly put Francis and Arthur into place with his words. "Now, where's Al?" He asked, turning to look at Gilbert. The Prussian man shrugged, getting up from his seat to head over to the waterfall and call out for the Austrian and American.

Roderich slowly came in, not looking anyone in the face. He carefully shimmied along the wall to avoid the trap again, coming to stand beside Gilbert. "Finally. Had to stop to answer the call of mother nature?" Gilbert teased, expecting Roderich to blush in irritation again as he played around with him.

"I'll just go see if Alfred's coming back in." Matthew said, guiding Peter over to Arthur and making to head out himself. Roderich quickly shot an arm out to stop him, Matthew looking curiously at the brunette.

"You…You don't need to go out there." He said, a strange tone to his voice that had Matthew on edge. The Canadian attempted to brush past him again, but Roderich's arm and the trap on his other side made that impossible. "You _shouldn't_ go out there. It's not something his brother needs to see." He said, dropping into a quieter tone for the last part, Matthew's eyes widening considerably. "It…It must've been quick based on all the…I mean, he didn't have time to shout." He continued, Peter whimpering and holding onto Arthur as the British man unconsciously clung to his younger brother as well.

"What are you talking about now?" Gilbert said a little breathlessly as he aimed to sound less concerned than he was at what the other man had to say.

"I'm talking about…Arthur needs to find something soon." Roderich said, shooting him a pointed look before yet again having to keep Matthew from racing back out into the wild forest. "And we should be grateful that Alfred had the sense to build a trap because there are obviously other things following us than der Elkonig." He said, voice cracking a little on the end. "I think we should all head further into the cave. Except you Arthur. Find a way to make it work." He said sternly, ushering Matthew back. Gilbert came over to guide the Canadian toward the tunnel entrance as Matthew denied that his brother could've been taken, insisting as a nation he'd have to be okay long enough for help to come or that things would reverse if Arthur got them back. Gilbert just nodded along to keep Matthew moving, Roderich offering to take Peter's hand as Arthur mutely nodded. The Austrian noted that the British man's eyes were already watering up ever so slightly, spurring Roderich to move the others into the tunnel faster as his confidence grew that Arthur would definitely be more willing to cry.

Once the group was in the tunnels, out of range of hearing, Arthur allowed himself to let his mask fall and to give a half-sob as he couldn't keep it back completely. He walked over to the rose-hued statue, kneeling down at the pedestal. He took a deep breath, unwilling even now to allow himself to cry. But he felt one rebellious tear manage to slide down his cheek to land on the rose, a soft light coming from the rose.

"Oh, crap!" Alfred's panicked voice came from behind him, Arthur gasping and turning around in time to see the American jump through the waterfall and over the trap. He landed into a tumble, quickly getting to his feet and continuing forward. "Oh man, it's here!" He said, Arthur tearing his gaze from Alfred to the waterfall where he was surprised to see a creature matching Peter's description standing under the waterfall. It glared at the two men before jumping over the trap as well, landing easily on its feet and making to continue forward. "What? I spent some serious time on that. That's an awesome trap." Alfred whined in both disbelief and irritation.

"Alfred, not the time." Arthur said, grasping on the man's arms to pull him closer to him just as the creature snarled and lunged forward. In mid-air, the two watched as the creature dissolved yet again, this time with a high-pitched screech like nails on a chalkboard as the light from the glowing rose intensified and engulfed it.

"What….what just happened?" Alfred asked timidly, looking to Arthur for answers as he held tight to the other man.

"I…I think whatever was supposed to work…worked." Arthur said in wonder, not sure if he'd unknowingly unleashed some spell or things just ended up with fortune on their side for once that day. "And you…" Arthur said, turning to glare at Alfred and slipping into his usual gruff tone with the other. "What's the idea of trying to trick me like that?" He accused, Alfred cocking an eyebrow in confusion.

"Eh? I told Roderich I was gonna stay out there and be a lookout. You know, and-slash-or act as bait for that thing to fall into my trap." He said, turning to look disappointingly at his trap. "Fat lotta good that thing was." He said with a sigh, returning his gaze back to Arthur to notice the British man still staring at him with an expression the American couldn't quite decipher although it looked like he wanted to say something more to Alfred without actually knowing what to say. "What?" Alfred asked in genuine confusion, emphasized by a shrug.

"N-Nothing." Arthur said, giving Alfred a tight smile. "But we may be heading home with one less member." He said threateningly, looking over to the tunnel entrance with a glare that went overlooked by Alfred as the other only heard the words and gasped.

"Oh no! You can't tell me the hero lost one! No way!" He whined, eyes wide with sincere despair at the thought of having failed in his mission to be the absolute hero to everybody.

"No. Not _yet_." Arthur ground out, walking over to the tunnel entrance. "All clear." He called out loudly in a sing-song tone that even Alfred could tell was leading to an ultimate shouting round from the British man. The others slowly made their way out of the tunnel, Matthew spotting Alfred and immediately rushing over to envelop the other in a tight hug in an ironic switch of place as Alfred found Matthew squeezing his neck to the point of near-strangulation. Arthur crossed his arms as he glared at Roderich, absolutely fuming and looking ready to snap.

"You needed proper motivation." Roderich said, swallowing thickly. "Any tear you produced would have been forced and not of genuine emotion…and therefore wouldn't have worked. And we all need to get home _sometime_." He continued, attempting to act as though Arthur's inevitable anger wouldn't be unleased on him in just a matter of seconds.

"He has a point mon ami." Francis said from where he stood beside the Austrian man. "Let it go. Or are you going to admit that something actually made you the tiniest bit, dare I say it, _feel_ something?" He goaded, Arthur scowling and raising his fists as his ire was redirected at Francis. But he knew that if he gave in, he would end up having Alfred hit him with a barrage of questions that would only embarrass him.

"Later then." Arthur said with a smile to Roderich, the Austrian man unable to stop the small shiver that went down his back. "But congratulations, things worked out. That thing is dust…" Arthur said, spinning on his heel to break eye contact with the others and pick up the rose that had now turned into a gemstone as well. "…And, this, will definitely be able to help me cast a spell to get back home. It has a little leftover magic in it and it should be just enough to carry us back. Or get rid of one more nasty creature if we absolutely need to." He said as he pocketed the gemstone, purposely ignoring Francis' whine that he wanted to see it. "But let's try and avoid getting ourselves in that sort of situation, shall we? Otherwise we'll need to do this all over again and someone may get hurt along the way." He said, shooting a look to Roderich.

With that, the group filed out of the cave, Alfred whining about the lack of productiveness with his trap to Gilbert as they climbed out. Arthur was still obviously displeased, occasionally checking as discreetly as he could that he hadn't left any tear marks on his face from that lone tear. But Peter seemed much more like himself now that he'd learned that there wasn't anything specifically targeting him or the North American twins, chattering on beside Arthur about what he planned on telling Tino and Berwald as he disregarded his older brother's attempts to persuade him to minimize details of their encounter.


	10. Chapter 10

Feliciano was dozing against Ludwig's back as he leaned against the German man, the slow gait of the horse easily putting him – and his brother- to sleep. While Antonio seemed used to such a thing and looked to prefer that to Romano resorting to his usual antics while he was still exhausted himself, Ludwig was getting tired of the way Feliciano would occasionally tickle the back of his neck with his hair.

"Ivan. Are you sure this is the right way?" Ludwig asked, the Russian man nodding with a pleasant look on his face. "Then at least tell us what to keep a look out for so we can help." He tried again to get the other man to provide them with any information that he had decided was only for him to know and the others to slowly find out.

"Nyet. She wanted to tell only me. Do not worry so much and Russia will take care of everyone…." Ivan chuckled to them, Antonio's eyes drooping as he yawned.

"Gracias amigo, but perhaps a little bit can go a long way." Antonio said, growing tired of following blindly after the Russian, a detail that Ivan looked to be enjoying. Neither he nor Ludwig really wanted to question whether or not somehow Baba Yaga would know if Ivan told anything and come to dole out punishment for not following her instructions, or if Ivan was simply more content to 'play' along with the others by continuing their game of 'follow the leader'.

"Ah, but look." Ivan said, halting his horse and pointing up ahead. "Is covered bridge we are needing to cross. We will be finding friends again very soon." He said, prompting his horse to continue.

"But Ivan…" Ludwig said with some hesitance. "If there is a stream, we may want to stay away." He said, but his worries were unfounded as he soon saw that it was a bridge over a deep ditch with a tiny brook at the bottom rather than a stream like the one from before that could contain any more homicidal aquatic creatures.

The German man sighed at the lack of any further information, reaching over to shake Antonio awake to keep him from falling off his horse or wandering off again. Even if his earlier exploration landed them with horses and directions, Ludwig felt like another might not be the best thing to tempt fate with at the time. They continued on for a while in silence for nearly a half-hour until they reached a spot where the horses all abruptly stopped without being prodded to do so. Antonio scrunched up his face in confusion, trying to get his horse to move forward, but it seemed Ivan had expected this.

"Now we wait." Ivan said, Ludwig and Antonio looking at him as if he had lost his mind – something that they didn't often bother questioning as the man's sanity was usually tenuous in relative comparison to others. "Da. Baba said horses would keep going until they reached this clearing. The others are supposed to be heading this way and we'll find them soon. But if I spoke the directions, then the spell wouldn't have continued and we may have had to spend more time with one another in the forest." He said with a smile, not sounding like he considered being stuck with the four others in the middle of nowhere to be such a bad idea, although Antonio's look to Ludwig expressed their shared worry over such an outcome. "Horses will follow our commands now. They are pretty things, like sunflowers." He said, dismounting and running a hand along his horse's mane, off in his thoughts again.

"Fine. It looks like we have no other choice." Ludwig said, running a hand across his face. "Wake up South Italy and I will wake North Italy." He said to Antonio, the Spaniard not looking as though that was such a good idea.

"Amigo…have you ever _tried_ waking up Romano when he's not ready to get up?" Antonio said, running a hand along his stomach. "He is…not exactly a morning person." He said with a small chuckle as he looked over to the sleeping Italian.

"Then is good thing it is not morning." Ivan said, pointing up to the sky as he appeared to have still been listening in on their conversation. "Look at the sky. It is almost night already. How is that possible? It could not have been a full day yet, da?" He asked, looking up at the sky as though it would start talking to answer his question.

"Not much has been making sense anyway." Ludwig said, sliding off his horse as he too gave up on waking up the Italian man if he didn't have to immediately. Feliciano slumped forward, face bumping on the saddle but remaining sound asleep save for a few mutterings of different pasta dishes he was obviously dreaming about in his sleep. He made to aid Antonio in getting safely away from Romano without waking him unnecessarily, calling out to Ivan to not wander too far from them as he saw the Russian man walk off into the woods.

"Do not worry. I'm sure he is just going to pick mushrooms or something while we wait." Antonio said once they were successful in keeping Romano both asleep and safely situated atop the red horse. "He does enjoy that sort of thing." He said with a shrug, Ludwig just shaking his head as he tried to figure out what to do next.

Ivan continued on into the forest a little further, not bothering to keep listening since he was sure he'd know exactly when any trouble might occur once it had awoken at least one of the Italians. Instead, he chose to follow something he thought he'd spotted moving a little farther away that looked like a little blue hat belonging to a particular member of their group. He was rewarded with his efforts as he spotted Peter heading back to the rest of the group of personifications as they had apparently taken a break to determine which direction they wanted to go in. Ivan smiled as he walked up behind Alfred, the American watching as Arthur and Gilbert were animatedly discussing which direction they were each sure they had been running from with limited progress.

"Matt, I'm not gonna be so easy to get this time." Alfred said, spinning around to face the man who'd set his usually cold hand on his shoulder. He was smirking until he saw that it was Ivan, giving a little shout of surprise that amused the taller Russian man.

"Did I scare you Fredka?" He chuckled as Alfred recovered from his surprise at the unexpected reunion with someone he wasn't exactly keen on having so close – or trying to sneak up on him. Alfred huffed and folded his arms over his chest.

"No." He denied, refusing to look at all like he was reaching his limit of shock scares for the day. But that only made Ivan smile wider at the stubbornness of the American man.

"Oh? I will have to try harder next time, da?" He said as he blinked innocently at Alfred, something that the American had seen several times before and didn't quite believe – although he more often just let it go without question to save himself further hassle. The creepy aura around the man was enough to rival Arthur's when the British man started to mumble 'under his breath' his chants and Alfred wasn't in the mood.

"Is West with you?" Gilbert asked, quickly covering up whatever concern he might have had in his voice. "I mean, I'm awesome and all but I'd hate to have to go after his lame self if he got lost in our own woods. We've got a castle to get back to." He said, Roderich smirking at him at the other's slip. Gilbert merely shot a quick glare to the other before focusing on Ivan again.

"Da. The Italys and Spain are also waiting with the horses." Ivan said with a nod, earning confused looks from the others. "Baba Yaga gave them to us." He said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. "She was very nice about not eating Antonio." He said with another smile, Alfred paling a little at the thought.

"Alright then." Arthur said, the first to recover his voice. "Perhaps you should go get them and we can all start to head back to the castle." He said, Francis mentioning in a mock whisper to Matthew that they had yet to decide which direction to actually head in. Arthur scowled over to the Frenchman, although Francis didn't seem fazed by it at all.

"Oh, Baba mentioned something about moss on the trees. Follow in the direction the moss is facing on Andre's tree." Ivan said with a shrug. He received more bewildered looks before sighing. "I will go get the others. Do not hide again from me my friends." He called back cheerily, Matthew clinging to Francis as Ivan walked past him in fear of having the Russian do anything of his usual antics.

Ivan shortly returned as promised with the others, Ludwig fending off any questions over the Italys' health to let them known they were simply, yet again, taking a nap. Roderich scoffed at that, but his years with Feliciano had made him well aware of the Italian's behavior and if anything, he looked a little amused at the sight of the two managing to sleep in the middle of a haunted forest.

"Now what?" Peter asked, voicing aloud with the finesse only a child could produce the other's questions. "I mean, there are still other things out there, right? I'm safe but you all are still in trouble. Recognize me and I'll be the scout!" He said, climbing to stand on a stump and point in Arthur's face. The British man frowned in lack of amusement at the little boy's quick return to his usual attitude toward his mission to be recognized.

"Thank you Peter, but I think we can manage." Arthur said in a lecturing tone, Peter huffing and crossing his arms.

"Yeah, I mean…" Alfred began, Arthur deflating a bit and bracing for any of Alfred's plans. "It's simple now. With the Rusalkas, don't go near the water. Werewolves…" He said, making a gun with his hands and giving a 'pew, pew' noise. "Silver bullet. I grabbed a few silver coins so we're all good there." He said, thinking about what else to do. "Oh, we talked about dealing with vampires so what else is there?" He said with a shrug, looking confident as usual.

"Well, Feliciano managed to take a nap on a giant snake." Ludwig said with a seriousness that seemed difficult for the other to manage. The others looked at him for elaboration, but Antonio interrupted.

"Si! Romano and I ended up being captured by the Donas de fueras and then Ludwig and the others came running in with an enormous snake following them. The two monsters killed each other off." He said with a smile, his spacey attitude back in place as he clearly was reminiscing about what he could remember of the fight.

"Freddy versus Jason style! Awesome!" Alfred said with a laugh, Arthur shaking his head as Matthew did the same. "So nothing else to worry about. Follow the rules and we'll be back home in no time." He said, looking ready to assume leadership position again.

"Why is it that all of us have had something after us, but not you?" Ludwig asked of Alfred, the American giving a shrug and a beaming smile.

"I doubt that der Elkonig counted as something coming for you. That was more a monster for Arthur to have to deal with." Gilbert said, Ludwig shooting a look to his older brother that clearly indicated for him to provide more information than just that. "Tell you later West." Gilbert said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'm mean, I'm dealing with those ghosts in my castle but you and Canada just ended up getting tied in. Like with Francis' werewolf." He said tapping his chin in thought.

"I'm impressed Gilbert. You've actually been thinking about this." Francis said, coming over to stand beside his friend.

"Ja. But it makes my head hurt." Gilbert said with a bit of a pout. "I need a beer. It boosts my awesomeness and we'd be back to drinking more beer much sooner." He said, the others rolling their eyes as Gilbert was back to being his usual self.

"Maybe it is because you und dein bruder didn't have those creatures specifically overlapping with those in my lands. Not originally or maybe not…" Ludwig began but Alfred interrupted yet again.

"Yeah we do. I mean, there were all sorts of creatures from the native peoples too." Alfred said, Matthew having to nod in agreement with his brother. There were some that shared similarities with European versions but he was very much hoping that they weren't going to have to deal with that now too.

"Yes, fine…" Ludwig said with a gesture to keep Alfred from continuing. "But plenty were from immigrants to your lands. It is possible that without as solid a connection to the lands, there was no reason for these things to target you or Canada." He said, Alfred shrugging in response.

"Sounds scientific enough for me." He said, Arthur smacking himself in the head at the words that came out of Alfred's mouth at times, considering he was being 'scientific' about 'mythological' things that involved magic in some way or another.

"Did anyone hear that horse neigh?" Roderich asked, looking around in all directions. Gilbert laughed and smacked the back of the Austrian's head.

"Prodigy, there are three horses with us. Maybe, oh I don't know, one of them made a horse sound?" He sarcastically teased, Roderich rubbing the back of his head.

"I know that. But they are not making any neighs right now, are they?" He asked, Gilbert rolling his eyes and continuing to laugh at the other man's remark. Roderich gave a heavy sigh, muttering about wondering why he bothered to keep coming to any Oktoberfests anymore.

"Let's get going." Alfred said, jumping onto Ivan's horse before the Russian man could protest. "The hero will lead the way!...Um….Which way again?" He said, not looking embarrassed in the slightest.

"America, get off of my horse." Ivan said, Alfred protesting about getting off. "Then we will have to ride together." Ivan said, climbing up behind Alfred and engulfing the other man in an embrace from behind to which Alfred whined and squirmed in continued protest. "Let's go." Ivan said, kicking the horse in the side and getting it to move forward and ignoring Alfred's whine that he was supposed to say that. The others quickly followed in the direction Ivan randomly picked, the Russian looking very smug about having Alfred stuck with him on the horse. "We are supposed to be looking for large tulip tree with old gnarled branches. Baba called it Andre's tree." He said again, Alfred stiffening at the name and shooting a glance over to Arthur. But seeing Arthur hadn't made any acknowledgement of the name, shook off his uneasiness as just being paranoid and wanting to get home soon.

"You hear that?" Roderich asked again, breaking their silence. "I am not imagining it. There is another horse nearby and it is getting dark for some reason. There is barely any light and we could run into who knows what at twilight." He complained, oblivious to Alfred's apparent distress.

"H-Hey Ludwig…" Alfred said a little timidly, getting the other's attention. "What part of your lands were we supposed to be in before we got Wizard of Ozed here?" He asked, looking to the German man.

"Why?" Ludwig asked, not sure he understood why the other would ask such a question. "We were in the state of Hesse." He answered, Alfred giving a small whimper that he bit his lip to try and unsuccessfully keep in.

"As in that place you gave Artie a bunch of soldiers from?" Alfred asked, trying to regain his composure since Ivan was so close to him already and was finding his discomfort somewhat amusing.

"What?" Ludwig asked, not being able to keep up with the American's train of thought and on the verge of just shouting at him like he would do with Feliciano. His patience had already been stretched to the limit and the vagueness of the other's random questions was getting to him.

"Oh come on!" Alfred nearly yelled. "Hessians. Major Andre? Arthur, dude, ring any bells?" He asked, looking over to Arthur imploringly.

"I employed Hessian soldiers in a number of wars Alfred, not just with you." Arthur said a little stiffly at the reminder, ignoring Francis' look directed at him. "And yes, I remember a Major Andre having to do with that war. Remember Benedict Arnold?" He asked, looking to turn the tables on the American who, to him, was bringing up nasty memories and feelings out of the blue for no reason other than he could.

"Not what I'm getting at." Alfred ground out, resisting his impulse to start off again with Arthur about that particular episode from that war. "Think about it. Hessian soldiers. We are in a haunted forest. It's only, like, the greatest ghost story in the entire world!" He said, the others groaning at Alfred's usual attitude.

"What's the matter Al?" Matthew asked from where he was walking beside the other's horse. "Oh…Oh no…" Matthew said as he caught on, Alfred shooting him a look to convey that someone finally picked up on what he was panicking about.

"So what's the big deal?" Gilbert asked, getting tired of just standing still again. "What happened to your rules of keeping things easy? If you know whatever this ghost wants, then give it to him." He said disinterestedly. "Unless you don't know…" He said with a tease.

"I know exactly what it wants. And he won't stop and he's practically invincible." Alfred said, looking around fearfully for that neighing Roderich had been talking about. "But it's a little hard to give it to him when it's back in New York!" He said harshly, the Prussian leaning back a little at the sudden change in attitude.

"Oh there's a tree that matches description." Ivan said, he and Alfred dismounting to approach it. It was an old tulip tree with an extraordinary thickness to its trunk and it towered over the other trees around it. Even its limbs, gnarled as they were, were thick enough to be trunks for some other trees as they twisted down to the ground and then up again into the air to make a terrifying sight with the lack of leaved on it to hide its shape. Ivan approached it with an easy and unconcerned gait to see which side had the moss on it, while Alfred just stared up at it with dread and a shiver that he'd deny to the others if they brought it up.

"Alfred, what are you so worked up over?" Arthur said with a hint of exasperation as he watched the American quaking where he stood. "Honestly, aren't you supposed to be…" He began, only to be cut off by a horse's neighing again.

"Ah! You see!" Roderich said triumphantly, Alfred tensing and slowly turning around as Roderich gave an 'I told you so' to Gilbert.

"The Headless Horseman" Alfred breathed out as soon as he turned around, spotting off in the distance the figure of a man on horseback, it's dark silhouette missing one very important piece. "Oh my God…And he's coming for me…." Alfred said as the horse reared up on its hind legs, the horseman's cape fluttering behind him to create a terrifying sight. "A horse! I need a horse _now_!" He said, scrambling for the white one he had been riding only to find it had bolted. In desperation, he grabbed the black one that Feliciano had been draped over, flicking the reigns and heading off with an Italian in tow.

"Alfred!" Matthew and Arthur called out, Ludwig also shouting after him to return Feliciano. But Alfred was too terrified to wait, bolting off into the forest with an unwilling passenger who was waking up at the sudden motion before grasping onto Alfred's back to keep from getting tossed off.

The horseman charged forward, the others of the group all trying to get out of his way. As they scrambled to get out of the way, Matthew found himself being lifted off his feet. He gasped, eyes wide as the horseman gripped his shirt and lifted him up, sword raised and if he'd had a head, Matthew would've been face to face with the rider. He whimpered and tried to struggle out of its grip, the horseman pelted with rocks by Francis as Arthur scrambled to get ahold of the rose gemstone. The rocks did no damage, but it seemed the horseman had figured out he'd grabbed the wrong twin, setting Matthew back down on the ground roughly before taking off after Alfred.

Matthew crumpled in on himself once his feet touched the ground, arms covering his head as he shook. He clenched his eyes shut, wondering why he seemed to be the collateral damage for all the other's monsters. He nearly screamed when he felt hands on him, only to be shushed by the gentle tone of Francis, the older man urging him to calm down and open his eyes. He slowly did so, taking a deep breath in relief before clinging to the older man and immediately rambling in French-Canadian to him as he cried. Francis cooed to him as he helped him to his feet.

"Allonze mon petite ange." Francis said, Arthur coming over as well. "We'll head back to the castle now that we know the way. Your brother will be able to meet up with us there and we may be able to do something to help him from there." He said, Matthew sniffling but nodding.

"He took Feliciano with him?!"Romano grumbled, wide awake after being thrown from the horse in the animal's fright. He was still on the ground, rubbing his head as Antonio looked him over. "What the hell is-a going on now?" He asked in irritation, wincing a little as Antonio's hands ran over a sensitive spot, the Spaniard gasping when he pulled his hand away to find a little red on his fingertips.

"This isn't tomato this time, is it?" Antonio asked, face morphing into concern over his former charge's wellbeing. Romano sighed and shot him an angry look, the Spaniard not too concerned yet if the southern Italian could keep up his usual attitude, even if he was emphasizing it with groans instead of additional curse words. "Alright. Back to the castle amigos. I agree with Francis. It's the only way to help anyone now." He said, lifting up Romano into his arms despite the others protests that he was fine enough to walk and not be manhandled.

Arthur looked to the gemstone in his hand before following with his eyes the trail Alfred had taken with his own monster after him. He had to agree with the others that getting back to the castle to try and send them all home was their best course of action. _I really hope you can manage without this Alfred_ , Arthur thought, pocketing the gemstone once more and following after Gilbert and Roderich as they lead the group back to the castle.


	11. Chapter 11

Alfred panted as he pushed the horse to go as fast as it could, not entirely sure which way he was going or what sort of plan he was going to have to put into action. Feliciano whimpered behind him as he clung to him, begging him to stop and explain what was going on. But Alfred continued to press forward, determined to put some distance between him and the horseman. Eventually though, he did give the horse a chance to rest and Feliciano a chance to readjust his position other than a terror-filled vice-like grip on Alfred's jacket.

"Shh! Feli! Dude you gotta keep quiet." Alfred said, covering the Italian's mouth with his hand. "The Headless Horseman is chasing me. Sorry, but I really needed a horse and you weren't movin'." He said, Feliciano actually opening his eyes in his bewilderment.

"Ve~…." Feliciano said, the rest Alfred was unable to make out as he mumbled behind Alfred's hand. Seeing this, Alfred made a small 'oh' and removed his hand to let the Italian whisper to him.

"How are we-a supposed to get rid of it? I thought we were going home?" He whined in terror, shaking again as he looked around. Alfred looked around as well, checking to make sure the horseman wasn't right on top of them.

"Well, we figured avoiding certain things or giving these things what they want is a good way to keep them satisfied long enough to get away." Alfred said, returning his focus to Feliciano.

"Then give him what he wants!" Feliciano wailed, Alfred immediately shushing him and slapping a hand over his mouth again.

"I _can't_. It's not here for me to hand over to him. Besides, it's sorta _always_ been missing. That's the whole reason he's out roamin' around _searching_ for his head." Alfred said with a sigh. "Look. He's supposed to disappear at the edge of a bridge that was supposed to lead to a churchyard. The others mentioned one around here but…That's not exactly helpful at the moment since I don't know where it is. But if we can maybe find a way to get it and another monster to fight maybe…" Alfred began, but Feliciano interrupted.

"Ve~…we crossed a covered bridge on the way to meet you guys." Feliciano said, blinking rapidly. "Does that-a help?" He asked, tilting his head to the side. "I'd offer him pasta because pasta always puts people in better moods but if he's headless he can't actually eat it and he couldn't even smell it's delicious aroma or see how beautifully crafted it is. But maybe he doesn't need his head to appreciate it, I'm sure-a we could find a way to let the pasta make him happy and maybe he'll stop to think about it. B-But he can't _think_ about it without his head either so it's back to wondering how to go about cheering him up with pasta. And it's kind of hard to make pasta in the middle of the wood anyway if we're-a running from him because you need time to properly prepare the pasta and I'm…"He rambled, Alfred clamping a hand over his mouth again.

"Feli. Shut. Up." He whispered with emphasis, the Italian whimpering a little as he shook. "Just tell me which way to the bridge?" He asked, Feliciano looking upwards as he tried to recall which direction. He perked up a little and stared expectantly at Alfred. "Well? Aren't ya gonna tell me?" He asked before remembering he had his hand still over the Italian's mouth. He hastily removed it, Feliciano giving him a small nod.

"We should head back to where Ivan must've met you guys. I was just dozing and I heard Ludwig and Ivan talking about the bridge. I didn't actually see it myself, but I'm sure if we just follow the trail back, we'll find it." He said, giving Alfred an optimistic smile. "We'll be fine." He said, Alfred smacking a hand to his head in frustration. "Oh…right…I know we still haven't read-a 'The Atmosphere' together yet…But, you don't seem as happy about that as I thought you'd-a be Alfredo…" Feliciano said, Alfred waving off his concern. While it was true he rarely took the time to read the atmosphere as Arthur often berated him for, Alfred was still amazed that in times of serious danger Feliciano could remain the same.

"I'm good Feli." He said, turning back around to cautiously move the horse back in the general direction he thought they came from. "Especially now that we have a plan. American-made plans are the best after all." He said, bravado returning now that he'd shaken himself out of his initial terror of having a ghost stalking him. "Just, keep quiet unless you need to tell me that you see it. Or maybe to say a prayer. These things aren't supposed to like that sort of thing and a prayer couldn't hurt…" He said, Feliciano nodding in agreement. While Arthur or the others might've given him some grief at that, he knew at least Feliciano would understand.

The two managed to successfully make their way back to the Major Andre tree, Feliciano gasping at the tree's frightening appearance. But Alfred didn't wait around, continuing back down the path at a slow gait to keep the horse from getting tired for when they inevitably needed to sprint away again. Roderich had been right about it getting darker out too and neither of them wanted to see what else could pop out at them in the dark, not to mention both were seriously hungry by that point. Alfred had pulled out more snacks that he'd shared with the Italian if only to keep him from mentioning anymore about the dishes he was envisioning. Eventually they came to the area Alfred recognized as where Ivan had surprised him, thinking hard about from which direction Ivan had come when he came up behind him. He took his best guess and spurred his horse on, the animal whining in protest but continuing on anyway. They continued on that way for a while, Feliciano leaning against Alfred's back and nearly asleep again as he'd apparently lost whatever fear he'd had at the mention of the Headless Horseman since they'd yet to run into him again. The Italian had almost slipped back into pleasant dreams when he heard a chillingly eerie laugh echo around them.

"Wh-What was that?" Feliciano whimpered, clutching Alfred close to him. The American was trembling just as much as Feliciano, looking about but not seeing anything. "How could he laugh if he has no head? That couldn't be the horseman…was it?" He asked, looking to Alfred for answers.

"That was definitely the Headless Horseman." Alfred said with a nod, urging his horse to quicken its pace. "Let's hurry things along. Now might be a good time for psalms or something…Ichabod Crane employed a few of them too if I remember correctly." He said, Feliciano noticing his change in accent to an older northeastern variety to subconsciously match his ghost story. The Italian nodded, humming a few in Italian in a soft tone as they continued on. But that laugh again resounded through the forest, Feliciano clenching his eyes shut and talking faster. He chanced a look behind them and saw exactly what had Alfred so terrified earlier.

"Waaaaaah!" He screamed, Alfred looking over his shoulder to see the horseman not that far off behind them, now with his signature head replacement of an illuminated carved pumpkin. "Why does he have a pumpkin? They're not native to Europe." Feliciano said as Alfred hastily kicked the horse into a run, the horseman chasing after them.

"You wanna stop and ask?" Alfred replied, Feliciano whimpering and closing his eyes again. "Just keep your head down and hold on." He yelled over to him, checking over his shoulder to see the horseman gaining, his laugh once more echoing around them. Alfred yelled at the sight, his own fear mounting at realizing the ghost was gaining on them rapidly. He hurried forward, the horse obviously tired as it began to stumble more as it ran. An unfortunately placed tree root caused the horse to stumble and the two men to be thrown off, Alfred and Feliciano getting to their feet as quickly as they could to race toward the bridge that was now in sight. The two panted as they ran, Feliciano with a significant lead over Alfred as he made it to the bridge and quickly crossed. Turning, he gasped at the sight of Alfred with the horseman looming over him.

"Alfredo!" He shouted, pointing to get the other to turn just in time to avoid the downward stroke of the horseman's sword. Alfred tumbled as he ducked, Feliciano worrying his lip as he watched the American roll to avoid getting trampled on by the ghostly horse, its red eyes gazing down at Alfred. But the blonde was able to get to his feet, albeit behind the horse. He quickly took in his situation, giving the horse a shove that knocked it off its feet and tossed the horseman to the ground. Taking that as his chance, Alfred sprinted toward the bridge, Feliciano making more whimpering noises as he motioned for the other to follow him quickly.

But the horseman was back to his feet quickly as well, his hold on his pumpkin head having spared the orange plant from being squashed. Alfred had made it to the edge of the bridge when the horseman raced after him, entering the bridge and tossing the flaming pumpkin at Alfred. He disappeared as though smoke once he made it halfway through the bridge in his determination to capture Alfred, but the pumpkin kept flying. It landed on its mark, hitting the back of Alfred's head with enough force to knock the man down at Feliciano's feet as it broke apart upon impact. Feliciano stood stiffly, unsure of what to do as he tried to assess what was going on. It looked like the ghost that was following them was no longer an issue, but Alfred had been hit. Bending down, he poked at Alfred's cheek to see if he could get some sort of reaction.

"America?" Feliciano whispered, poking him in the cheek a few more times without getting a response, deciding to call him again a few times before rolling him onto his back. He saw the other's glasses were askew, righting them on the other's face with a small 've~' as he looked over his friend. "America…per favore…wake up now Alfredo…" He pleaded, anxious to get back to the others. He sighed when it seemed the American had been thoroughly stunned by the ghost's final action, looking around and spying a black horse waiting at the other end of the tunnel. His face brightened as a thought came to mind, linking arms with Alfred to drag the unconscious man back across the bridge. He was panting again by the time they got there, taking a moment to try and lift the other up and struggling with a few grunts before managing to get the other man flung over the horse's back.

"Phew….now we can-a find the others and all go home for pasta." He said once he caught his breath, patting Alfred's shoulder as he made to grab the reigns of the horse. Instantly he began to tremble again as he noticed that it was not the black horse they had been riding, its red eyes gazing back at him. "Oh no…" He mumbled, looking to the bridge to see smoke whisping about as it looked like the horseman was pulling himself back together as much as he could with what was left of him. Quickly, Feliciano mounted the horse anyway in his panic and spurred it on, the horse rearing back but doing as Feliciano wanted and ironically racing away from its master. Looking over his shoulder, he saw the horseman continuing to reform, letting out a squeak at the thought and urging the horse to move faster. With the horse's supernatural speed that almost matched the capabilities of Feliciano and Lovino when they sprinted, Feliciano had them back at the old tree in no time, periodically checking over his shoulder to be sure the horseman was still having difficulty reforming after Alfred's actions and being separated from his horse. He shook Alfred urgently, the blonde man groaning as he came to semi-awareness. "Which way to the others? Alfredo…" Feliciano whined, shaking him again.

"Moss." Alfred said, confusing Feliciano even more although it was quickly replaced by fear when he heard the horseman's spine-chilling laugh off in the distance. "Side moss is on." Alfred grumbled out again as he pointed to the tree, passing out again before Feliciano could ask anything else.

The northern Italian redirected the horse back closer to the tree, trotting around it until he found the side with the moss. He abruptly maneuvered the horse back around and sprinted off in the direction he was told to go in. Alfred stirred only a couple of times along the way, Feliciano nervously looking all around for the horseman despite knowing he was riding his horse. But his fear was momentarily abated when the castle came in sight again as they neared the edge of the tree line. However, the horse abruptly stopped at the end of the forest despite all attempts to keep moving forward, jarring Alfred awake in time to see the horseman coming down the path they'd taken with renewed fervor as he rode their horse. He slid off the red-eyed horse, stumbling as he went while Feliciano practically sprang over to the castle doors without care for the ghosts that had driven them out into the forest in the first place.

"Germany!" Feliciano yelled as he pounded on the door. "Germany! Romano! Aiutare! Aiutare!" He screamed, his hits growing more panicked. But the door swung open, Feliciano hitting Ludwig in the chest on accident as he'd been looking over his shoulder to see Alfred trying to essentially shuffle back to the castle on his own with his head injury still leaving him somewhat disoriented. The Italian quickly ran inside and behind his taller friend, whimpering.

"Close the door!" Roderich yelled from somewhere inside before coming forward to gasp at what he saw. Alfred was almost to the door, but so too was the horseman, having dismounted the now exhausted horse from Baba Yaga and was slowly walking over to Alfred and unsheathing his sword. "Hurry America!" Roderich called out, Ludwig reaching out an arm for Alfred to grasp. "We can't leave once we're in. Hurry!" He exclaimed, Matthew appearing behind him with wide eyes as he watched his brother trip again.

But his clumsiness was at an opportune moment, as the sword again sliced through nothing but air and gave Alfred the chance to get back to his feet. He pushed forward, reaching out to grasp Ludwig's outstretched hand in time to be pulled in before the horseman tried again. The Austrian man slammed the door shut as soon as Alfred and Ludwig landed on the floor, Alfred panting and grimacing from the rough landing.

"Thanks man…" Alfred said with a grateful look to Ludwig, the German man nodding as he got to his feet. "Ow…" He said, clutching his head and getting to his knees, Matthew instantly by his side.

"What's wrong?" He asked, looking over his twin. Alfred groaned and let his head rest on his twin's shoulder as they remained on the floor.

"Hit in the head with a flaming pumpkin." Alfred said, rubbing the back of his head. "It knocked me out. Don't remember much after running through the bridge, but I'm guessin' Feli dragged me back and onto our horse." He said, Matthew helping him get to his feet.

"Ve~…w-well…" Feliciano said, wringing his hands nervously. "It-a might have been the…um…. _horseman's_ horse…ve~…It may have been what brought him back after you got rid of him…" He said, looking sheepishly at Alfred. "They were both black horses…" He defended himself, Alfred just groaning again.

"Oh…shut up…hamburger-bastard." Romano groaned from where he was laying on the couch. "You…You've nothing to groan about…" He said, Antonio shushing him as he wrapped his head, the southern Italian wincing at the action.

"Oh, lo siento Lovi. Lo siento but it is necessary." Antonio said in apology, but Romano didn't make any more comments as he let the Spaniard finish up.

"Whoa, what happened to him?" Alfred asked, still rubbing his head and pulling pumpkin guts out of his hair. Romano shot a glare over to the American, although it was less than effective as Antonio was gently cooing to the other to help him feel better.

"Horse threw me. Thanks to _your_ damn ghost." Romano answered, Antonio shushing him again - Alfred wasn't sure if it was because the Italian's injury was that severe or simply to keep him from continually going off on anyone after everything had happened.

"He'll be just fine, won't you mi tomate." Antonio said, hugging the Italian. "But you are so fragile. Don't worry, boss is here." He said with a smile and laugh, Romano grumbling but not fussing too much.

"Okay, where's everybody else?" Alfred asked, pulling his hand away from his own head to see small specks of red as well. But he refrained from saying anything, especially with Peter nervously peeking out from behind a curtain through the window at where the horseman was pacing around still.

"Arthur and Gilbert are…collaborating….right now." Matthew said with a nervous-sounding chuckle. "It's not getting very far but Francis is trying to mediate." He said, Alfred looking at him as though that was the strangest suggestion yet. "Ivan's in the library too, but…I'm not sure what he's doing right now." He continued.

"I was trying to help as well until I heard Feliciano screaming." Ludwig said, his friend making an 'aww' noise and launching himself onto the German. Ludwig blushed as he realized what that sounded like, patting the other man on the back a couple of times in their routine so that Feliciano would know to let go.

"How'd you get in? I thought there were ghosts in here?" Alfred said, sitting down on one of the chairs to let his head rest against the cushion. Roderich nodded and put a finger to his lips to indicate how they were able to reenter the castle safely. But Alfred only mumbled out a 'huh', causing him to sigh in defeat.

"They like _quiet_. As long as we're not too loud and don't really give them any attention, they ignore us as well." Matthew supplied helpfully, an expression of worry still on his face for his brother. "They don't let us out though. There's like some barrier up and that's why Ludwig could only reach out as far as he did. But it keeps your friend out too eh." He said, Alfred grimacing at the thought. It certainly explained why Ludwig was so quick to rush to Feliciano's aid as well, wanting to keep things quiet in addition to concern for his friend.

"I don't bloody know!" Arthur's elevated was heard drifting over to them, Ludwig sighing and walking off in the direction it came from to remind them to keep quiet. "I could read it backwards and on my head and I still wouldn't remember how I managed to do it while pissed." He said, sounding as though he was going to continue until Ludwig's voice briefly was heard as he shushed them.

"Well, he does a lot of things when he's mad." Alfred said, pulling pumpkin off of his jacket after noticing it stuck in the collar. Matthew chuckled as he listened to his brother, Peter looking at Alfred with an arched eyebrow.

"When Arthur says that, he's talking about being drunk. Not angry Alfred." Matthew said by way of translation for his twin. Alfred shot him a curious look before seeming to not be bothered to think any more about that.

"Huh, well, he does a lot of things when he's drunk too." Alfred said, attempting to make himself more comfortable in the chair, although the huff he gave indicated that he hadn't been very successful. "Do I need to go save the day?" He asked when Ludwig came back in with an irritated expression on his face from arguing with the others.

"You can if you just…watch the door in case something is able to get in." Ludwig said, rubbing his forehead and hoping to keep Alfred from intervening if he could. But Alfred, in his true fashion stood up, swaying a little before being steadied by Matthew.

"Ve~…I'll be lookout. That-a way, I'll just scream really loudly and not have to do anything more than look at the door. That's why it's called lookout." Feliciano said with a salute to his friend, Ludwig sighing again at his friend's offer to 'help'.

"Dude, I don't care if we click our heels together and say 'there's no place like home'. If it's gonna bring us back, I'm for it." Alfred said, stumbling forward to follow after Ludwig.

Alfred spotted Arthur and Gilbert in a struggle for the albino man's diary, Gilbert using his height to his advantage and keeping it out of the fuming green-eyed blonde's reach. Francis was attempting to get them to see reason, Ivan standing off to the side with a smile on his face as he watched the show. The American laughed as Arthur ended up elbowing Francis accidentally, thinking it was probably one of the few times such a thing could be called an 'accident'. But he could see why Roderich was staying away as nothing was really getting accomplished. Arthur huffed again as Gilbert grabbed his diary out of Arthur's hands, complaining about how his awesomeness was being stifled by the other's lameness in getting them home. The British man looked ready to retort when he spotted Alfred, his focus redirected on the American.

"Well look who came back." Arthur said mockingly, Alfred pouting at the other's attitude. "I thought you had taken off with your tail set firmly between your legs. You and Feliciano. Nicely done Alfred." He said, Ivan chuckling a little from where he stood leaning against a bookcase.

"Hey! I led it away from you guys." Alfred tried to defend himself. "Besides, what was I supposed to do about it, hmm? I got rid of it too…" He said, trailing off when Arthur raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Okay…it's back. But that's only because Feli accidentally did a switch-a-roo with the horses and summoned him back." He said quickly, Arthur rolling his eyes.

"Of course Alfred." He said sarcastically, the American responding with a huff of his own as he held himself taller. Arthur scrutinized the other man for a moment, Alfred taking that to walk back over to Gilbert and take a look at the journal. The British man followed the other's moves, finally noticing that something was off. "Oi…what is all over the back of your head?" He asked, coming over and reaching up to run his fingers over the younger man's head.

"Pumpkin" Alfred said with a wince, grabbing Arthur's hand to keep the other man from touching him. "Or did you forget that unlike your monster, this one wanted a new head on his shoulders?" Alfred said with a bit of snark, his own irritation seeping into his otherwise ever-exuberant and outgoing attitude.

"So it decided to smash a pumpkin over your head?" Francis asked, giving a nod to the others as all but Lovino and Antonio had gathered outside the 'hidden' door to see if anything was happening. "And is that wax?" He asked, his hair-obsession making him notice what to the others would've been minute details as the Frenchman walked over to see the damage for himself. "Amerique, this must've hurt…" He said, Alfred leaning away to avoid having the other man try and touch his head as well.

"Yeah, well…" He began with a shrug, trying to brush off his injury as nothing to appear tough, "…I did say the pumpkin was on fire." He said, Arthur arching a brow. "Oh, come on. It was a jack-o-lantern. You guys used turnips and stuff over here but it's the same thing." He said, not noticing when Ivan walked over to him from behind. Looking down at the diary gave the Russian the perfect opportunity for him to reach out and pull some of the wax out of the American's hair, taking along with it some hair too.

Alfred yelped at that, dropping the diary and spinning around as he immediately placed a hand on the back of his head. Ivan merely smiled back in response as Alfred continued to groan at the stinging sensation that action had produced.

"I was just curious, da?" He said, Alfred scowling at him. But Ivan seemed unaffected as usual, Alfred giving him a small shove in response. Ivan stumbled back in surprise at that, Matthew groaning out an 'oh no' as it seemed his twin and Ivan looked to be about ready to go into another of their usual matches. "Keeping that in your hair is no good. Maybe some ice, da?" He said, Alfred still pouting but reluctantly realizing that the Russian probably had a point.

"Fine. I guess that wouldn't be too bad an idea." Alfred said, looking to Gilbert to see if the other had any ice packs around. "But back up dude…like, now." Alfred said, his tone not leaving room for Ivan to make another comment and instead had the other man looking slightly startled enough to actually give the other some space.

"I'd go with you…" Gilbert said to Alfred once Ludwig had offered to go with him to where he knew his brother's kitchen to be to go get ice packs for him and Romano. "…But apparently the Weisse Frauen have this castle confused with the Berliner Scholoss where the awesome me had my awesome bosses live. They're cranky right now if I wander around my own house for too long but in here, I'm still as awesome as ever." He said, putting his hands on his hips and giving his signature smirk that had Roderich groaning aloud at the other's behavior.

"You know what you need?" Alfred began, not caring to keep his head covered from anymore prodding from Ivan as his face brightened up at some idea he had. This time it was Arthur's turn to groan as he prepared for whatever might come out of the other's mouth. "You need, like, a totally awesome disguise! Here!" Alfred said, pulling a bunched up hat out of his pockets and putting it on Gilbert's head before the other had a chance to protest. As expected, it had a bald eagle on it with Alfred's flag in the background, as Alfred seemed to have his flag on every other article of clothing that he owned. Alfred took a step back to look over the other man, Gilbert making to grab the baseball hat off his head grumpily. "Now you gotta do somethin' about those eyes. Oh! How about glasses?" He said with a laugh, grabbing the gemstone out of Arthur's hand faster than the other man could realize.

"Oi! What do you think you're doing?!" Arthur said, reaching for the gemstone. "That's not something to play around with. We can't just replace it if you break it Alfred!" He said, although his pleas went overlooked.

"Yeah, you could use this and nobody could tell what color your eyes really were." Alfred said, Gilbert taking the stone from the American before Alfred accidentally ended up pulverizing it. Arthur shook his head at the antics of the blue-eyed blonde, watching as Alfred came to stand beside Gilbert and held the stone up to his eye, laughing about how it would be like a monocle unless he still had the sapphire they'd been looking at earlier.

"Alfred, leave him alone." Francis said, coming to his friend's rescue. "I doubt he'd be able to see anything with spectacles like those." He said, Gilbert shoving the hat back at the American as he'd had enough playing dress-up with the other. He grabbed his diary again, placing the stone in the book to act as a marker before intending to head out with Ludwig and handing it to Arthur to keep looking for a way to get home.

As Alfred whined about how nobody was enthusiastic enough about his fantastic ideas, Matthew trying to coax him out of the room to go get an ice pack, Arthur sighed and returned his focus on the book. "Well, look at that..." He said aloud, noticing that the words Gilbert had written down appeared different when look at through the clear-ish rose gemstone. "The bloody twit was right…" He said, walking out of the 'hidden' room to place the book on a table in the other room, using the gemstone as a magnifying glass and moving it closer and farther away to try and read. The stone made some words more legible to him while the others were blurred completely, making the scrawl that was Gilbert's attempt at writing an older language more understandable. "It's like a puzzle." He said, Ivan coming over to glance over the British man's shoulder.

"Da. No wonder you could only do it after having too much to drink." Ivan said, Arthur sparing him a brief glance. "Needed an open mind. A different perspective." Ivan continued, Arthur beginning to show signs of irritation. But instead of confronting the imposing Russian man, he chose to instead awkwardly clear his throat and move to the other side of table.

"Regardless of what sort of mental state one needed to be in to cast this spell…" Arthur began, Roderich rolling his eyes at that, "…I'll need a moment or two to figure out what exactly I'm supposed to do with this." He said, Alfred rejoining the group with Ludwig and Gilbert as he spoke.

"Oh yeah?" Alfred asked, holding an ice pack to the back of his head. "You need to get drunk again to send us home?" He asked, sliding the diary over to look at himself, Arthur fighting to keep ahold of the gemstone as Alfred reached for it.

"Oh, I volunteer then! No one does that as awesomely as me." Gilbert said, standing closer to his younger brother than usual as it seemed he had taken Alfred's suggestion of using a disguise to heart and had essentially used Ludwig as a shield in case any ghosts that had it out for him decided to show up again. "Well, maybe West can do it pretty good too. He had an awesome teacher after all." He continued, shooting his brother a smirk that Ludwig did not return, although there was the faintest trace of a blush on the German's face.

"Alfred, give me that!" Arthur complained, getting the attention of the others off of Gilbert and Ludwig and back on them as he reached for the gemstone, holding off one-handedly the British man's efforts with his usual laugh as he used the other to look through the gemstone. Matthew shushed them as he held his brother's now neglected ice pack, trying to keep their voices down to avoid another ghostly run-in. He was silently grateful that neither Italy brother was in the room nor had Peter decided to join them for 'boring stuff' as he'd opted to stand by the window and watch the Headless Horseman continue to pace ominously outside while the micronation made faces from the safety of indoors.

"Chill out dude." Alfred said, Arthur looking ready to start throttling him like he normally reserved for Frrancis. "It's _easy_. You read these three lines together and then this one with a repeat of the last three words of the first line." He said, making Arthur's mouth drop open in astonishment. The British man grabbed the gemstone out of the other's hand, checking to see for himself if the American's conclusion to the puzzle was right. He went over Alfred's suggestion, unable to determine any potential issue that would make the cocky man's answer incorrect.

"How the bloody hell did you figure that out so fast?" Arthur asked as he looked up at Alfred in confusion. Gilbert came over to check things over himself, giving a chuckle at the quick answer while Ludwig insisted on taking a look as well.

Alfred simply shrugged in response to his older brother's incredulity, taking the ice pack from Matthew and placing it back on his head with a bit of wince. "It wasn't really all that hard. It was just a word game. Tony and I play with those all the time." He said as though it was no big issue on his part.

"You and your alien-looking friend play complicated code games with overlapping sequences and numerous possible outcomes to sift through until you've found one that suitably works?" Ludwig asked disbelievingly, Ivan looking already aware of just how difficult it could be to pull one over on Alfred with this sort of thing – unless he had some trouble with understanding the conversion between his and the metric system as had led to some embarrassing situations for the American, much to the Russian's amusement.

"Huh?" Alfred asked, arching an eyebrow. "Nah. I told ya it wasn't that difficult." Alfred said again, removing his ice pack to shake some of the water off before placing it on his head again in his inability to refrain from doing something with his hands." Hey, if you want difficult, you aught'a check out the new boss level Kiku made for that killer game he's re-releasing next month. I can't figure out if he's got cheat codes or something but he beats me _every_ time." Alfred said with a bit of a pout, Arthur smacking his forehead with his hand at the American's response.

"Can you use what Alfred said and get us home now?" Matthew asked Arthur, eager to just end their adventure and head home. But it seemed he was overlooked again as Arthur began to rant about Alfred keeping on task, to which Alfred responded with more remarks about how Tony was looking for Arthur to come over more because he had all sorts of plans for him. This predictably made Arthur pale a little at the thought of what exactly the alien had planned, Francis attempting to mediate while inching closer to Roderich until he apparently couldn't hold back anymore after the day he had and had let his hand wander over to the Austrian's backside as Roderich's yelp clearly indicated. The Austrian quickly took a step away with a blush on his face, turning to glare at Francis as the Frenchman laughed and shot a look toward the other man.

"Everybody shut up!" Ludwig shouted, his booming voice effectively silencing the others as they looked his way. But it seemed like he'd also gotten the attention of some of the other residents of the castle based on the way the temperature quickly dropped.

"West!" Gilbert whisper-shrieked, hurrying to get back into his safe room that was his 'hidden' diary room, the German man looking slightly chastised by his brother's frightened call of his name. "Bruder! That means you need to be quiet too dumkoff!" Gilbert whispered out before hunkering back down in the room away from the others, shutting the 'hidden' door as the white blurs came into the study, causing the others to freeze in place.

Francis shivered when one of the ghosts passed right through him, looking over to see that Alfred had Arthur in one of his usual holds he employed when he had the over to watch scary movies, the British man looking as though he was going to fall over with the way the taller and heavier man was leaning on him. But the ghosts seemed to be satisfied that there were no further noises and sounds, drifting off one by one back into the other areas of the castle. All save for one that came up to Ivan, the Russian staring back at the woman unblinkingly as she lingered. The others felt the temperature drop significantly more around her as she studied the Russian man intently, leaning in closer to his face as she circled around him as though looking for some reaction before drifting upwards to the next floor and disappearing through the ceiling.

"Are you alright Ivan?" Matthew called out timidly, Ivan still looking up from where he had followed the woman's disappearance. The Russian looked over to the Canadian, causing Matthew to begin to regret drawing the other man's attention onto him.

"Hmmm? Oh, da. I am fine." Ivan said with a smile. "Was not really that cold compared to some winters at my home." He said, walking over to the rest of the group as Arthur tried to get Alfred to release him. "Perhaps she and General Winter would get along well though with fondness for chills. They could be a couple, kol kol kol…Gilbert and I should see if we can set something up. Be like family, da?" Ivan said with a laugh, Ludwig looking upset with such a notion after experiencing having his older brother be 'family' with Ivan for a while. Instead of saying anything on that matter, he chose to knock on the door to where Gilbert was hiding.

"Nobody is home right now! Just us awesome talking bookcases." Gilbert called out, Ludwig sighing as Alfred laughed at Gilbert's response. Ludwig knocked again, calling out for his brother to open the door. When Gilbert still refused to do so, he resorted to pulling the books off the shelf to try and find the trigger.

"Ah…it's here Ludwig." Arthur said, pointing to a book with a white cover. "I remember that much at least. That brother of yours is not very creative when it comes to hiding spots." He said, Ludwig looking at the book to find that the lettering was done in red, rolling his eyes at his brother's attempt at cleverness. He pulled the book back, releasing the latch on the inside so that it swung open to reveal a shaking Gilbert, the albino man giving a startled shout before attempting to compose himself as he reluctantly came back out to join the others. Roderich smirked at him, but as he was too busy dealing with keeping a watch on where Francis was at all times, Gilbert was able to send a smirk of his own to the Austrian man.

"But I agree with Matvey." Ivan said, causing the others to stare at him in confusion. "What he asked before the ghost ladies came back." He said in an effort to clarify, Alfred looking to his twin to get some clarification. Ivan only chuckled at the other's confusion, walking over to lay a hand on the Canadian's shoulder and making Matthew tense a little at the other's touch. "Ah…you were not hearing him before, da? He asked if Arthur could be getting us home now since we have answer." He said, Arthur blinking a couple of times as he registered that the others were now looking to have him say something.

"Er…right then." Arthur said, picking up the gemstone and holding it over the page. Alfred came over to stand beside him, asking if he needed him to repeat the answer because as the hero, he could do that if the other offered something in return. He never did get to finish saying what he would ask for in exchange, since Arthur made to elbow him in the gut, not bothering to see that Alfred was now standing on one of the chairs behind him in his 'heroic' stance and therefore had taken the hit lower than the British man intended. Alfred crumbled forward as he fell off the chair, Matthew unable to help the small snicker that escaped him as his brother recovered from a hit to Florida.

"Da, is funny when he makes those noises." Ivan said, Matthew jumping as he had forgotten just how close Ivan had taken to standing next to him. "I didn't know you had same humor as me Matvey. We should become one, da?" He suggested, Matthew sending him a nervous smile as he backed away, mumbling about making sure his brother was alright. Ivan shrugged, Matthew seizing his chance to slip away and go collect his brother off of the floor while Arthur read aloud the spell. Alfred leaned on his twin as he sent a scathing look to his older brother, Arthur continuing to on to finish the spell. Once he was done, he looked up and around the room as the others did so expectantly.

"Is that it?" Francis asked in an unimpressed tone, Arthur shooting him an irritated look. "You're losing your touch mon ami." He said teasingly, Arthur clenching his hand not holding the gem into a fist.

But before either of them could do much of anything, Alfred gave a loud yawn, unintentionally drawing the other's attention. "S-Sorry…sleepy now…" Alfred said, sagging into his brother's side and toppling them both to the floor. Matthew did his best to avoid having his brother crush him, calling his name and shaking his shoulders in concern.

"H-Hey…Arthur didn't get you that bad, eh." He said in an attempt to sound lighthearted, wondering if the hit to the head from the Headless Horseman was having some further effect on his twin brother.

"Hmm? No, Arthur's storytellin' always…" Alfred began, trailing off into another yawn that Matthew couldn't help but copy. "….always put me to sleep." Alfred finished, eyes closing as he snuggled into his brother's chest and fell asleep.

"Oh great." Roderich said sarcastically, yawning as well. "You at least managed to put the loudest of the bunch of us to sleep." He said, Arthur sending him a frown before returning his gaze back to Alfred with concern on his face. That concern mounted when Matthew gave another yawn as well, slumping backwards with a thump onto the floor as he too fell asleep with Alfred laying on top of him.

"Mon dieu…Arthur, what did you do?" Francis said, doing his best to rush forward as he too seemed to become more lethargic. Francis dropped beside Matthew, shaking the Canadian's shoulders and receiving mumbled noises of protest from the sleeping man.

"Bruder!" Ludwig shouted, Arthur looking over to see the blonde German with his older brother in his arms, the albino man passed out as soundly as the North Americans. Ludwig seemed to uncharacteristically struggle with his brother's weight, sliding down against the other bookcase to hit the floor. "Bruder…" Ludwig tried again, Roderich yawning again but coming to kneel beside Ludwig.

"Arthur! Arthur!" Peter's voice came drifting over to them, the little boy rounding the corner in a daze as he rushed to his older brother. "The…The Italys were already asleep…" He began, looking as though fighting off yawns of his own. "But then Spain just passed out on the floor! I'm so tired…" He began, giving into his yawn and leaning into Arthur's side.

"Francis, can you…" Arthur began, picking up the little boy as Peter drifted off to sleep standing up against him, looking over his shoulder only to find the Frenchman had fallen asleep while lying over the North American twins. Arthur blinked away his own fatigue, fearing he'd drop Peter, and placed the little boy on the table to keep from having him slip from his hold. He spotted Roderich slumped against Ludwig's side, both he and the German man asleep as well. Swallowing thickly at the idea that he must've done something wrong, Arthur hastily tried to keep upright to stay awake to try and fix things. His hands shook as he fought off the effects of his spell, only to have another hand placed on top of his own. Looking up, he was met with Ivan still awake as well although he too seemed sleepy.

"How…" Arthur began, only to shake his head as he tried to get some grasp of focus back on the topic he most needed to address. But Ivan redirected him to a chair, sitting him down easily despite the half-hearted and sluggish attempts to protest that Arthur made.

"Nyet…" Ivan said, sitting down in another chair. "Have much experience with fighting sleep in cold. Can stay awake for a while. But is spell. Don't fight it." He said, Arthur only managing to blink a few times in response as he gazed back at the Russian man, watching as Ivan let his head droop as he too let himself fall asleep. Before Arthur knew it, he could feel his hold on consciousness slip and he sagged back into his seat.


	12. Chapter 12

The first thing that Ludwig noticed when he woke up, was that the personal space that he strived for was not even remotely to be found as his older brother lay sound asleep in his arms cuddled up against him and Roderich was leaning up against him with his head on his shoulder. He tried to take deep breaths to keep from getting upset, having grown used to the surprise visits from Feliciano during the night that sometimes ended with the Italian more or less using him as his pillow. But no matter how much he bit his lip, he couldn't help feeling smothered, bolting out from underneath his fellow Germanics and standing up, walking quickly out of the room and missing the dual 'oomphf!' that came from Gilbert and Roderich being hastily woken up only to find themselves face to face with one another. Putting some space between them and himself gave Ludwig the chance to actually calm down a bit before hearing Roderich and Gilbert begin to bicker, the Austrian man voicing his worries about what may have happened as a result of too many beers.

It didn't take too long before it seemed that the other two had successfully woken up the others in the room, Arthur's voice drifting out to Ludwig as he walked into the next room to see Feliciano on one couch smiling in his sleep while Lovino was spread out on the other, Antonio asleep sitting on the floor and leaning over the southern Italian. Ludwig shook his head at that sight, knowing that the Spanish man would be in for quite the wake up if Romano woke first in their position. He was debating whether or not to do the kind thing and wake Antonio up first so he could move a safe distance away, when he spotted what looked like bandages wrapped around Romano's head. He tried to recall something happening at the fest that would have required medical attention, taking a moment to do so before the events of the previous day – or night – came back to him and he rushed over to the window. Looking out, he saw the fest still going on, the festive lights still lit up and plenty of people still milling around. He scrunched his brow in confusion, wondering how that was possible since he was almost certain that Gilbert had called them all inside as the fest was ending, the group heading to bed and waking up to find they were in some horror fest instead.

"What are you looking at?" Gilbert's voice next to Ludwig's ear said, startling the other man into jumping back a bit and bumping into the couch Feliciano was sleeping on, knocking the Italian onto the floor as Gilbert laughed at his brother's frightened face. "Keseseses….oh, mein gott bruder…I should have had my camera out if I knew you were going to be so scaredy-cat today." He laughed, Ludwig growling in frustration at his brother.

"We're back for the party?!" Alfred asked, bounding over and nearly knocking over Feliciano as he sat up from being tossed onto the floor, one hand on his head. "Awesome. I could use some cider after that." He said as he rubbed the back of his head with a happier look as it seemed he no longer had an issue to worry about now that it appeared as though nothing had happened – although the others also knew that was just how Alfred acted anyway. Peter chimed in from where he stood beside Francis that he wanted to finally get that pretzel he'd been trying to get before the whole ordeal started, looking to Alfred and receiving a smirk as the two of them raced over to the door to head back to the fest.

"Wait! Don't you want to think about this for a moment before you go rushing off?" Arthur asked, Alfred pausing by the door for a second before shrugging in answer. Arthur huffed at that predictable response, shooting a look to the American.

"Hey, it worked. We're back. That's all that matters right?" Alfred said, opening the door and letting Peter take the lead as they raced back down to the fest, Matthew following shortly behind them.

"Wait until I tell Berwald and Tino!" Peter exclaimed, Arthur paling a little at the thought of facing the Swedish man's displeasure – or Finnish man's wrath - if he heard the unfiltered story from Peter. He hurried after them as well, calling out for Peter to listen to him before he exaggerated things.

Francis laughed at that, following after the British man to see how things would play out. He could already imagine that Peter might be getting more than just that final pretzel he'd been craving if Arthur could keep him from saying too much. And he knew that it would be plenty amusing to offer 'assistance' in such matters if he stuck by the British man. Roderich was quick to follow out as well, Ivan having decided that since no one else was close, he'd see if the Austrian man wanted to do something 'fun'. Ivan merely laughed at the Austrian man's hasty retreat, stating that playing tag was always fun too as he followed after him as Roderich headed back to try and lose Ivan in the crowd of people attending the Oktoberfest. Ludwig sighed as Feliciano appeared to have climbed back on the couch to fall asleep again, wondering if he should bother waking him up again since it seemed it was late enough anyway – the fact that they had apparently lost no time since Arthur had read the spell the first time not being questioned by Ludwig for the sake of maintaining some sanity.

"Antonio! Antonio!" Gilbert's voice rang out from behind him, Ludwig turning to see the Prussian man shaking his Spanish friend roughly. "Wake up! The awesome me can do it alone but there's more to be done and I'll need someone to spread tales of my awesomeness!" He said, Antonio blinking around in confusion as he was manhandled to his feet, barely given any time to say anything.

"W-What?" Antonio managed to stutter out, Gilbert laughing boisterously as he tried to push his friend towards the door. "W-Wait…I need to see if Lovi's alright." He said, Gilbert groaning in frustration at being told to wait another second longer before getting back to his beloved beer. Ludwig smirked at his brother before fully understanding what Antonio had said, bracing for the irate Italian's cussing and kicking at having to get up.

"Lovi…" Antonio cooed to the southern Italian, receiving minuscule responses from the other man. Ludwig watched as Antonio tickled the younger man's side playfully as he called out to him a few more times, the German man anticipating either a kick or a slap to befall the Spanish man. Antonio seemed to anticipate such a thing as well, giving Romano another prod before taking a step back and out of arm's reach as Romano squirmed in sleepy protest. "Come on Lovi. I know you wanted to get a real tomato." Antonio said cheerfully, his grin becoming impossibly wider as the southern Italian peaked one eye open and peered out over the pillow he'd tried to hide his face in, unable to resist the offer of his favorite food. "Si! Come on Lovi. Let me look at your head first, por favor?" He said, Romano giving him a sound like a mix between a huff and a groan as he let Antonio undo the bandages from around his head. "Oh, Lovi…it's all better!" Antonio said, unable to stop himself from kissing the other's head and receiving a push from Lovino, his face bright red at how close they had just been.

"Chigi! What the hell are you-a doing so close?" Lovino grumbled as Antonio laughed from where he sat on the floor, the southern Italian getting to his feet as Gilbert helped Antonio stand up as well. The blushing man walked over to his brother, roughly nudging him a few times. "Wake up fratellino. If I cannot-a sleep, you cannot either. We're only here because you like that stupid potato-bastard so much anyway. Up, up, up…." He prodded, Feliciano whining at his brother's insistence that he get up.

"Ve~…but Lovino, I thought you only came because Antonio is friends with Gilbert and you didn't want him to go alone here and….why must-a you be so mean fratello?!" Feliciano was saying, only to break off into moans as his brother tried to silence him with a solid punch to his shoulder that really shouldn't have hurt him, but considering it was Feliciano, Ludwig could see why the other cringed.

"Damn potato-bastards. I bet any tomato here would taste-a sour anyway." Lovino grumbled as Antonio tried to follow after for a hug, a huge smile on his face as Romano continued to blush profusely. "My head may be all healed from whatever freaky thing Britain did – mio Dio he can be scary…- but there's still something-a wrong with yours, that's for sure!" He continued, Feliciano pouting at his brother's words before tugging on Ludwig's sleeve with the usual plea to help stand up for himself. Ludwig watched as that action seemed to only further irritate Romano, Antonio calling to him from where he stood closer to the fest to come relax with him. Feliciano took him up on that offer, practically skipping off to the Spaniard with his brother, leaving Ludwig with his own older brother.

"Ah….what a fest." Gilbert said, Ludwig shooting him an unamused look. "Ja. It's unforgettable because it is so awesome. That is mainly because I was here and so by my presence, it was infused with an awesomeness that you were lucky to be able to bask in for a moment or two. " He said, wrapping an arm around his brother.

"Did you ever figure out what that was all about? What you wrote in your diary?" Ludwig asked curiously, Gilbert shrugging nonchalantly before looking off in thought a bit.

"Something to do with fears and facing demons or something like that." Gilbert said, Ludwig shaking his head as he realized that would probably the closest he would ever be getting to any sort of explanation from his brother. "It was probably something Germania thought up to terrorize Roman Empire with when the Mediterranean got a little too hot-headed for him or something." He said, giving a quick look around that Ludwig could tell was meant to be subtle as he looked for any signs of lingering ghosts in his castle.

"Well, perhaps you should find better hiding spots for your diaries Gilbert." Ludwig said, receiving a huff of indignation from the older Germanic brother. "And I think we might all be better off if we just forgot about this. If that is even possible." He continued, his brother getting a mischievous look in his eyes.

"But you know what'll cure you if you _really_ want to forget? Beer! Beer!" He said with a smirk, laughing a couple of times as Ludwig looked ready to argue with him. "You know you want to. It's like getting to do it all over again now that we don't have a hangover either! It's awesome!" He said, encouragingly guiding his brother out of the door and closing it behind them. Ludwig sighed, letting Gilbert lead the way over to grab more pints of beer with his signature grin on his face. He decided that if he was able to do something twice over, it must as well involve beer.


End file.
